User accessibility to electronic paper

ABSTRACT

A system and method helps to control “read” and/or “write” access to electronic paper (e-paper). Informational data may be on a restricted portion of e-paper material that is protected by a security methodology accessible to authorized entities. Some embodiments maintain a record of access activity regarding the restricted portion, and a record of access activity regarding use of an item or product or service related to the e-paper informational data. Some implementations include an authorization listing of a person or entity having a particular access privilege or a supervisory privilege to make authorization and data changes. Authorization records may involve an access privilege to receive a status output regarding prior access activity and/or current status.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to, claims the earliest availableeffective filing date(s) from (e.g., claims earliest available prioritydates for other than provisional patent applications; claims benefitsunder 35 USC §119(e) for provisional patent applications), andincorporates by reference in its entirety all subject matter of theherein listed application(s) to the extent such subject matter is notinconsistent herewith; the present application also claims the earliestavailable effective filing date(s) from, and also incorporates byreference in its entirety all subject matter of any and all parent,grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. applications of the herein listedapplication(s) to the extent such subject matter is not inconsistentherewith. The United States Patent Office (USPTO) has published a noticeto the effect that the USPTO's computer programs require that patentapplicants reference both a serial number and indicate whether anapplication is a continuation or continuation in part. The presentapplicant entity has provided below a specific reference to theapplication(s) from which priority is being claimed as recited bystatute. Applicant entity understands that the statute is unambiguous inits specific reference language and does not require either a serialnumber or any characterization such as “continuation” or“continuation-in-part.” Notwithstanding the foregoing, applicant entityunderstands that the USPTO's computer programs have certain data entryrequirements, and hence applicant entity is designating the presentapplication as a continuation in part of its parent applications, butexpressly points out that such designations are not to be construed inany way as any type of commentary and/or admission as to whether or notthe present application contains any new matter in addition to thematter of its parent application(s).

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation in part of the followingcurrently co-pending commonly owned United States patent applications.The subject matter of the applications listed below are incorporated byreference in their entirety in the present application to the extentsuch subject matter is not inconsistent herewith.

Ser. No. 11/040,497 filed 20 Jan. 2005, entitled “Semi-PermanentElectronic Paper” naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Mark A.Malamud, Kenneth B. Paley, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and Clarence T. Tegreeneas inventors.

Ser. No. 11/041,510 filed 21 Jan. 2005, entitled “Permanent ElectronicPaper” naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Mark A. Malamud, JohnD. Rinaldo, Jr. and Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors.

Ser. No. 11/129,020 filed on May 12, 2005, entitled “Write Accessibilityfor Electronic Paper”, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, MarkA. Malamud, and John D. Rinaldo, Jr. as inventors.

Ser. No. 11/129,680 filed on May 12, 2005, entitled “Alert Options forElectronic Paper Verification”, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A.Levien, Mark A. Malamud, and John D. Rinaldo, Jr. as inventors.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates generally to data on electronic paper (e-paper)material and e-paper documents.

BACKGROUND

Electronic paper (sometimes also called electric paper and e-paper) hasbegun to replace legacy paper as an information source. It has many ofthe attributes of paper. For example it is writable, reflective andstable. Electronic paper can also be configured as a flexible and thinsheet, like paper.

Electronic paper can be used as an information source to be written toby multiple entities. In some circumstances electronic paper may providebenefits that are not available with ordinary paper material.

SUMMARY

Methods and systems for protecting informational data on an e-paperdocument related to an associated item or product or service, asdisclosed herein, may take different forms. For example, someembodiments are implemented in a computerized system for electronicpaper data access and related usages. An exemplary implementationprovides an electronic paper document that includes informational usagedata for a related item or product or service, wherein the informationalusage data is protected by a predetermined security methodology. Aserver system has a communication link with the electronic paperdocument, and a database is operationally coupled with the serversystem. The database may include first access authorization recordsregarding “read” access and/or “write” access to the informational usagedata, and may further include second access authorization recordsregarding actual use of the related item or product or service. Aninterface means capable of operable connection with the server systemhelps to facilitate operational benefits of the first access and secondaccess authorization records in accordance with the predeterminedsecurity methodology.

Other aspects may be implemented in a method limiting access to aportion of electronic paper material, which method provides anelectronic paper document associated with an item or product or service,wherein the electronic paper document includes a restricted portionhaving usage information related to the item or product or service. Oneor more authorized persons are enabled to have an access privilege tothe restricted portion in accordance with a predetermined securitymethodology, and a record is made of access activity regarding therestricted portion.

Further exemplary embodiments provide an electronic paper device thatincludes electronic paper material capable of storing informationalusage data regarding a related item or product, wherein the electronicpaper material is attachable to the item or product or is attachable toa package or container for the item or product. A communication channelon the electronic paper material allows an authorized party to have“write” access and/or “read” access to a restricted portion of theelectronic paper material from a location separated from the electronicpaper material, in accordance with a predetermined security methodologythat limits “write” and/or “read” access to an authorized party.

Some implementations disclosed herein provide a system embodiment forcontrolling access to electronic paper material, including electronicpaper material with usage information that is protected by apredetermined security methodology, wherein the usage informationrelates to an item or product or service. An authorization recordidentifies a person or entity authorized to have access to the usageinformation on the electronic paper material, and an activity record mayinclude one or more of the following: “write” access activity regardingthe usage information; “read” access activity regarding the usageinformation; “use” access activity regarding the related item or productor service; change activity adding the person or entity authorized tohave access to the usage information; change activity deleting theperson or entity authorized to have access to the usage information;change activity adding a designated person or entity approved forrestrictive use of the item or product or service; and change activitydeleting the designated person or entity approved for restrictive use ofthe item or product or service.

Some embodiments are implemented in a computer program product withprogram instructions configured to perform a process that associatesinformation in a computer system. An exemplary process may includemaintaining an authorization database record that identifies a person orentity that has a “read” access privilege with respect to a restrictedportion of an electronic paper document, wherein the restricted portionincludes informational usage data regarding a related item or product orservice. The exemplary process may also include maintaining anotherauthorization database record that identifies a person or entity thathas a “write” access privilege with respect to the restricted portion ofthe electronic paper document, and additionally include maintaining afurther authorization database record that identifies a person or entitythat has a “use” access privilege with respect to the related item orproduct or service.

The computer program product may also include a computer-readablesignal-bearing media bearing the program instructions. Thesignal-bearing media may include storage media and/or communicationmedia.

Additional features, aspects and benefits will be understood by thoseskilled in the art from the following drawings and detailed descriptionfor various exemplary and preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is an embodiment of an illustrative product container havingdisposed thereon an electronic paper label and an embodiment of acoupled circuit disposed thereon to conditionally disenable an entityfrom writing to a specific region of the electronic paper.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an electronic papershowing a circuit to fix a region of the electronic paper from beingfurther written to.

FIG. 3 is a top view diagram of an embodiment of an electronic paperpartitioned into illustrative regions, coupled to a block diagram of anembodiment of a downloading circuit.

FIG. 4 is a top view diagram of an embodiment of an electronic paperpartitioned into illustrative regions, coupled to a block diagram ofanother embodiment of a downloading circuit

FIG. 5 is a top view diagram of an embodiment of an electronic paperpartitioned into illustrative regions, coupled to a block diagram of anembodiment of a circuit to conditionally disenable an entity fromwriting to a specific region of an electronic paper.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a circuit to control thewriting of an image on regions of an electronic paper.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of using electronicpaper and the actions of a circuit configured to control the writing ofan image on a region of the electronic paper.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are a flow chart of another embodiment of a method ofusing electronic paper and the actions of a circuit configured tocontrol the writing of an image on a region of the electronic paper.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of yet another embodiment of a method of usingelectronic paper and the actions of a circuit configured to control thewriting of an image on a region of the electronic paper.

FIG. 10 shows a high-level logic flowchart of a process.

FIG. 11 depicts a high-level logic flowchart illustrating alternateimplementations of the process of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 illustrates a high-level logic flowchart illustrating alternateimplementations of the process of FIG. 10.

FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram for a further embodiment showingread/write accessibility to electronic paper material.

FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram showing an exemplary embodimentthat includes status indicators for verification of information onelectronic paper material.

FIG. 15 is a schematic block diagram showing another exemplaryembodiment that includes a reader/scanner unit that is operably coupledwith a first status indicator.

FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram showing additional exemplaryembodiment that includes a reader/scanner unit that is operably coupledwith a second status indicator.

FIGS. 17 and 18 are top view diagrams that schematically show differentexemplary implementations of data and authentication indiciaincorporated on electronic paper material.

FIG. 19 is a top view diagram that schematically shows an exemplaryimplementation of authentication indicia incorporated on a label-type ofelectronic paper material attached to an associated item, product,container or package.

FIG. 20 is a side view diagram that schematically illustrates differenttypes of verification coupling links between a label-type of electronicpaper material and an attached or associated item, product, container orpackage.

FIG. 21 is a schematic block diagram for an exemplary electronic papersystem that includes an alert device.

FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram for an exemplary alert device with anindicator that receives status information regarding multiple types ofe-paper verification problems.

FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram for another exemplary alert device withseparate indicators respectively provided for different types of e-paperverification problems.

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating different exemplary integrationschemes for encoded or encrypted indicia on e-paper material.

FIGS. 25A, 25B and 25C are schematic block diagrams showing differentexemplary implementations for obtaining, processing and displayingverification status outputs from e-paper material.

FIGS. 26, 27 and 28 are schematic block diagrams showing differentexemplary embodiments with various verification component locations.

FIG. 29 is a schematic flow chart that illustrates an exemplary e-paperdocument that passes through different stages of being attached to orassociated with a manufactured item.

FIG. 30 is a schematic flow chart that illustrates multiple examples ofindividual and composite e-paper documents that pass through differentstages of being attached to or associated with a manufactured andassembled device.

FIG. 31 is a high level flow chart showing an exemplary process for someembodiments.

FIG. 32 is a high level flow chart showing an exemplary processincorporated in a computer program product.

FIGS. 33-34 are more detailed flow charts showing further exemplaryprocess features for additional embodiments.

FIG. 35 is a high level flow chart showing another exemplary process forcertain embodiments.

FIG. 36 is a high level flow chart showing a further exemplary processincorporated in a computer program product.

FIGS. 37-39 are more detailed flow charts showing additional exemplaryprocess features.

FIG. 40 is a high level flow chart showing an additional exemplaryprocess for certain embodiments.

FIG. 41 is a more detailed flow chart showing other exemplary processfeatures for various embodiments.

FIG. 42 is a schematic block diagram showing an exemplary computerizedembodiment with input and output communication links.

FIG. 43 is a more detailed schematic block diagram for an embodimentwith exemplary access interfaces.

FIGS. 44-45 illustrate exemplary types of database records that may beused in some embodiments.

FIG. 46 is a perspective view of another embodiment that includes anexemplary electronic label for a dispenser package unit configuration.

FIG. 47 is a high level flow chart showing a further exemplary processembodiment.

FIGS. 48, 49 and 50 are more detailed flow charts showing other aspectsof additional exemplary process embodiments.

FIG. 51 is a high level flow chart showing an exemplary processincorporated in a computer program product.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Those having skill in the art will recognize that the state of the arthas progressed to the point where there is little distinction leftbetween hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems; theuse of hardware or software is generally (but not always, in that incertain contexts the choice between hardware and software can becomesignificant) a design choice representing cost vs. efficiency tradeoffs.Those having skill in the art will appreciate that there are variousvehicles by which processes and/or systems and/or other technologiesdescribed herein can be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/orfirmware), and that the preferred vehicle will vary with the context inwhich the processes and/or systems and/or other technologies aredeployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed andaccuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardwareand/or firmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, theimplementer may opt for a mainly software implementation; or, yet againalternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware,software, and/or firmware. Hence, there are several possible vehicles bywhich the processes and/or devices and/or other technologies describedherein may be effected, none of which is inherently superior to theother in that any vehicle to be utilized is a choice dependent upon thecontext in which the vehicle will be deployed and the specific concerns(e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability) of the implementer, any ofwhich may vary. Those skilled in the art will recognize that opticalaspects of implementations will typically employ optically-orientedhardware, software, and or firmware.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto describe devices and/or processes in the fashion set forth herein,and thereafter use standard engineering practices to integrate suchdescribed devices and/or processes into data processing systems. Thatis, at least a portion of the devices and/or processes described hereincan be integrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amountof experimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that atypical data processing system generally includes one or more of asystem unit housing, a video display device, a memory such as volatileand non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digitalsignal processors, computational entities such as operating systems,drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one ormore interaction devices, such as a touch pad or screen, and/or controlsystems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback forsensing position and/or velocity; control motors for moving and/oradjusting components and/or quantities). A typical data processingsystem may be implemented utilizing any suitable commercially availablecomponents, such as those typically found in datacomputing/communication and/or network computing/communication systems.

The herein described aspects and drawings illustrate differentcomponents contained within, or connected with, different othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can beimplemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense,any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality iseffectively “associated” such that the desired functionality isachieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve aparticular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each othersuch that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective ofarchitectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components soassociated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or“operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality,and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewedas being “operably couplable”, to each other to achieve the desiredfunctionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but arenot limited to physically mateable and/or physically interactingcomponents and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interactingcomponents and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactablecomponents.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of theembodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in standard integratedcircuits, and also as one or more computer programs running on one ormore computers, and also as one or more software programs running on oneor more processors, and also as firmware, as well as virtually anycombination thereof. It will be further understood that designing thecircuitry and/or writing the code for the software and/or firmware couldbe accomplished by a person skilled in the art in light of the teachingsand explanations of this disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an embodiment of a product container110. A product container 110 may illustratively contain a pharmaceuticalto be provided to a consumer by a drugstore, a foodstuff, a manufacturedproduct, or a communication medium such as a book or a DVD, and mayillustratively be provided by a manufacturer, a wholesaler, a retailer,or a lending entity.

The product container 110 has disposed thereon an electronic paper 120.In an embodiment, the electronic paper 120 may be illustrativelyalternatively disposed on, or attached to, the product. The electronicpaper 120 may function as a label, or some other indicator or source ofinformation associated with the product. The electronic paper hasregions illustratively portrayed as a first region 130, as a secondregion 140, and as a third region 150. In some embodiments, each region130, 140, 150 may be written to by a specific entity. For instance, inan illustrative operation of the electronic paper 120, the first region130 may be written to by a supplier of the product to a vendor, such asby a manufacturing entity or by a wholesaling entity. The second region140 may be written to by a vendor of the product to a consumer, such asby a retailing entity or by a renting entity. The third region 150 maybe written to by a consumer entity or by a purchaser of the productentity. In some embodiments, a region 130, 140, and/or 150 of theelectronic paper 120 may be configured to have a visually distinctappearance from the remainder of the electronic paper. In someembodiments, the visually distinct appearance may be a background hue ofa character written in a pixel of the region. In some embodiments, thevisually distinct appearance may be a visual border of the region.

Some illustrative embodiments of electronic paper may includeindependently addressable and controllable pixels. In some embodiments,each pixel may include a pair of opposed electrodes disposedorthogonally to the surface of the paper. Each pixel may include anelectrophoretic colored ink particle disposed in a region between theelectrodes. When a field is applied between the electrodes, the inkparticle in response migrates toward or away from an electrode, makingthe color of the ink particle visible or not visible to a readerobserving the electronic paper. In some embodiments, each pixel mayinclude a pair of opposed electrodes disposed orthogonally to thesurface of the paper, each having an ink that includes a multicoloredelement. The ink may be configured to be rotatable in response to afield. Upon application of the field between the orthogonally disposedelectrodes, the element will rotate according to the interaction of itsdipole and the polarity of the field, to present a region to the surfaceof the electronic paper visible to a reader observing the electronicpaper. In some embodiments, the electronic paper has ambient lightbehavior, being easier to see the brighter the ambient light. Moreover,in some embodiments the ink is stable in each pixel state so that theelectronic paper consumes substantially little or no power inmaintaining a pixel state.

In some embodiments of operation of the electronic paper 120, in anembodiment in which illustratively the electronic paper 120 is a labelon a product container 110 for containing a pharmaceutical, the firstregion 130 may be for writing by the manufacturing entity and maycontain such information as the potency of the enclosed pharmaceuticaland the contraindications associated with the pharmaceutical. The secondregion 140 may be for writing by a drugstore entity, and may containsuch information as the dosage and the usage instructions associatedwith the pharmaceutical. And the third region 150 may be for writing bya patient entity, and may contain such information as the times at whichthe patient has consumed or is scheduled to consume the pharmaceutical.Thus, in some embodiments each region may be exclusively written to by aspecific entity.

In some embodiments, the electronic paper 120 may be configured toreceive a signal indicating an image to be written on the first region130, the second region 140, and/or the third region 150; and to causethe indicated image to be written on the electronic paper 120. Thesignal is termed herein an image indicating signal.

In some embodiments, the image indicating signal may be illustrativelyformatted to indicate an image corresponding to the respective pixels ofthe electronic paper 120, such as a pixel map, or may be formattedaccording to some other format, such as a page description languagerepresentation format, or a picture editing application representationformat (such as a graphics application format, an image editingapplication format, a painting application format, an illustrationapplication format, a drafting application format, a CAD applicationformat, a diagramming application format, or the like). In someembodiments, the electronic paper 120 may have an associated circuit todecode the image indicating signal, and to address a control signal toeach pixel indicated by the image indicating signal.

In some embodiments, the electronic paper 120 may include pixel addresslines, each able to couple to an external coupling structure 170. Theexternal coupling structure 170 may be configured to transmit the imageindicating signal to the electronic paper 120 by communicating with eachcoupled address line. In this embodiment, the image indicating signalmay include a separate signal for each pixel, transmitted to the properaddress lines by the external coupling structure 170.

Illustratively, in some embodiments, coupled to the electronic paper 120may be a circuit 160 configured to control the writing of an image tothe illustrative regions 130, 140, and 150 of the electronic paper 120.In some embodiments, at least a portion of the circuit 160 may bedisposed on, without, and/or within the electronic paper 120. In someembodiments, the circuit 160 may be disposed on or within the productcontainer 110, or other structure to which the electronic paper 120 isattached. The circuit 160 may be coupled to the electronic paper 120across the external coupling structure 170. The circuit 160 may beconfigured to receive an image indicating signal from an imageindicating signal downloading circuit 180 across another couplingstructure 190. The coupling structure 190 in some embodiments includesillustratively a bus, a wireless connection, and/or a network fortransmitting the image indicating signal from the image indicatingsignal downloading circuit 180 to the circuit 160, or to the electronicpaper 120.

The circuit 160, in some embodiments, may be configured to control thewriting of the image by an entity to at least one of the regions 130,140, and 150, by conditionally disenabling the entity from writing tothe region. As used herein, the term disenabling may include preventingor making something unable to operate; and may include disabling, notgenerating, and the like. In some embodiments, the circuit 160 may beconfigured to disenable an entity from writing to a region of theelectronic paper 120 by not transmitting a received image indication(from the image indicating signal downloading circuit 180) to theelectronic paper 120. Some embodiments of the circuit 160 and theactions it may be configured to perform are described below, as well aswith reference to FIGS. 5, 6, 7A and 7B, and 8 below.

An example of conditional disenabling is to disenable some or allentities from writing to at least one specific region such that one ormore specific entities may write to the specific region. For instance,as described above, each region may to be written to by a definedspecific entity. Illustratively, the first region 130 may be for writingto by a defined manufacturing entity, the second region 140 may be forwriting to by a defined drugstore entity, and the third region 150 maybe for writing to by a patient entity, and other entities may bedisenabled from writing to the regions. For example, a manufacturingentity may be disenabled from writing to the second region 140 and thethird region 150, the drugstore entity may be disenabled from writing tothe first region 130 and the third region 150, and the patient entitymay be disenabled from writing to the first region 130 and the secondregion 140. As another example of conditional disenabling, a specificregion may be disenabled from being written to by specific entities (orequivalently, a specific entity may be disenabled from writing to aspecific region) subject to an occurrence of an event, such as an eventdefined as a region having been written to a specific number of times.In some such embodiments, and other embodiments that depend upon aregion of the electronic paper and/or an entity endeavoring to write tothe region, the circuit 160 may be configured to read from the receivedimage indicating signal an identity of the region to be written toand/or an identity of the entity endeavoring to write to the region, andto transmit an indication of the image to the electronic paper 120 forentities not disenabled from writing to a region. In anotherimplementation, the circuit 160 may be configurable to control thesubstantially permanent writing to a specific region 130, 140, and/or150 of the electronic paper 120 by disenabling an entity from writing toa region subject to the occurrence of the region having been written toa prescribed number of times, such as one time.

In some embodiments, the circuit 160 may be configured to substantiallypermanently write a specific region of the electronic paper 120. Forexample, the circuit 160 may be configured to fix an image in all orpart of the region of the electronic paper 120. Referring to FIG. 2, inan embodiment, the circuit 160 may be configured to generate and send tothe electronic paper 120, or a circuit 220 associated with theelectronic paper 120, a signal indicating the pixels 230 i-230 n (i=1 ton) of the electronic paper 120 to be fixed. In some embodiments, thecircuit 160 may be configured to generate the signal based on anidentity of the region, and/or on an identity of an entity endeavoringto write on the region as described above with reference to FIG. 1. Insome embodiments, the electronic paper 120 may include a circuit 220configured to fix the electronic paper by fixing pixels of a specifiedregion of the electronic paper. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat although circuits 160 and 220 are shown separated herein for sakeof clarity, and circuit 220 is shown as part of electronic paper 120, inother embodiments circuit 160 and circuit 220 may be combined in oneoverall circuit which can be external from or internal to electronicpaper 120 (e.g., associated with electronic paper 120). In anillustrative implementation, an individual pixel of an electronic paper120 is fixed by controlling the transmission of an image to the pixel.The circuit 220 may be configured to fix the region of the electronicpaper 120 from being written to by illustratively opening thetransmission path to the pixels 230 i-230 n subsequent to informationbeing written thereto (e.g., by circuit 160), so that the informationpreviously written to the pixels 230 i-230 n may be regarded assubstantially permanent. As a specific example of the foregoing, one ormore voltages to be provided to one or more of the pixels 230 i-230 nwould be disabled from being received by one or more of the pixels 230i-230 n.

Exemplary implementations of substantially permanently writing at leastone region of electronic paper are described herein in the context of anillustrative pixel addressing scheme. In an embodiment, informationwritten to at least one pixel may be rendered substantially permanent byopening an input circuit of the pixel. In another illustrativeembodiment, information written to at least one pixel may be renderedsubstantially permanent by closing a circuit to divert a signal formodifying the pixel. And in another embodiment, information written toat least one pixel may be rendered substantially permanent by activatinga switched input of the pixel.

Illustratively in an implementation of substantially permanently writingat least one region of electronic paper, a pixel may be addressed by anactive matrix addressing scheme in which a separately addressedelectrode is provided for each pixel. One implementation in which thepixel may be fixed includes a fuse to control transmission to theelectrode, so if the fuse opens, a transmission to the electrode may bedisabled. Then by controlling the current to the fuse to exceed the fusetransmission limit, the fuse is caused to open and thus the content ofthe pixel is therefore rendered substantially permanent. Similarly in animplementation, an antifuse may be configured so that if the antifusecloses, a transmission to the electrode will bypass the electrode,therefore disabling the transmission from affecting the electrodevoltage, and the thus content of the pixel is therefore renderedsubstantially permanent. Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatthis single pixel example may be replicated such that substantially anydesired pattern displayed by a collection of like configured and/orcontrolled pixels may thus be made substantially permanent. Moreover,illustratively a pixel may be addressed by a passive matrix addressingscheme in which two sets of intersecting conductors, one designated arow conductor and one designated a column conductor, together uniquelysupply a voltage to a given electrode of the pixel. The supplied voltageis the sum of the voltage of the row and the column conductors. Theelectrode is configured to retain the applied voltage. Each row orcolumn voltage is below the threshold to cause an ink to respond to thefield generated by the electrode of the pixel. However, the sum of therow and column voltages exceeds the ink response threshold. This issometimes called a threshold response behavior. One implementation inwhich the pixel may be fixed includes a fuse (or the antifuse) tocontrol transmission to the electrode, so if the fuse opens (or theantifuse closes), a transmission from the intersecting conductors to theelectrode may be disabled. Then by controlling the current to the fuse(or antifuse) to exceed the fuse (or the antifuse) transmission limit,the fuse is caused to open (or the antifuse is caused to close) and thepixel is therefore fixed from being written to. Those skilled in the artwill appreciate that this single pixel example may be replicated suchthat substantially any desired pattern displayed by a collection of likeconfigured and/or controlled pixels may thus be made substantiallypermanent. Moreover, illustratively a pixel may be addressed by a matrixaddressing scheme in which an electrically non-linear element isoperationally disposed between a supply voltage and a pixel electrode toswitch a voltage onto the electrode. In this schema, the switch mayillustratively be disabled from further switching so that the electrodemay retain its supplied voltage. This may be affected by a variety ofschema, depending upon the specific characteristics of the switch.Illustratively, if the switch is embodied as a transistor, the controlcurrent of the transistor may be controlled to disable the transistorfrom supplying the electrode with a switched voltage.

As has been described elsewhere herein, electronic paper itself has dataretention characteristics which allow information written thereto be torendered substantially permanent by effectively disabling further inputto pixels of the electronic paper once the data to be made permanent hasbeen written. In some contemplated implementations, the information maybe rendered yet more permanent by circuit 160 and or 220 (or variouscombinations or permutations thereof within the ambit of those skilledin the art) configurable to fix an image within at least a portion ofthe first region 130 by being configurable to write an image within atleast the portion of the first region and to thereafter establish one ormore assisted non-volatile signal levels to the pixels of the portion ofthe first region 130. In some implementations, the assisted non-volatilesignals are created by applying related art signal maintenancetechniques to one or more of the electronic paper pixels into whichinformation has been loaded (e.g., by applying capacitive storage and/orflash-memory like techniques to the pixels), and thereafter effectivelyrendering further input to the loaded pixels effectively inoperative.Illustrative implementations by which further input to the loaded pixelsis rendered effectively inoperative include fusing circuitry,anti-fusing circuitry, lasing circuitry, an electro-mechanical switch,and/or an electro-mechanical cutting mechanism, but those skilled in theart will recognize that other functionally interchangeable related arttechniques are also applicable. Moreover, in an embodiment the circuitry(e.g., circuits analogous to circuit 160 and/or 220 as describedelsewhere herein) may include write-once circuitry configured to permitone image to be written to the portion of the first region 130. In anembodiment, this includes circuitry configured to make static at least aportion of the first region 130. In an embodiment, this circuitry mayinclude fusing circuitry, lasing circuitry, an electro-mechanicalswitch, an electro-mechanical lead cutting mechanism, and/or circuitryto establish a non-volatile signal level. Both assisted and non-assistednon-volatile signal levels as described herein are contemplated.

Referring now to FIG. 3, in an embodiment, an illustrative electronicpaper 310 includes a finite quantity of defined regions for portrayingan image, 315A through 315XX, here illustratively portrayed as a firstregion 315A, as a second region 315B, and as a third region 315C, andillustratively other regions 315D. In an embodiment, a region 315A,315B, 315C and/or 315D of the electronic paper 310 is configured to havea visually distinct appearance from the remainder of the electronicpaper. In an embodiment, the visually distinct appearance is abackground hue of a character written in a pixel of the region. In anembodiment, the visually distinct appearance is a visual border of theregion.

The electronic paper 310 is configured to receive a signal indicating animage to be written on the first region 315A, an image to be written onthe second region 315B, and/or an image to be written on the thirdregion 315C of the electronic paper 310, termed an image indicatingsignal; and to cause the indicated image to be written on the electronicpaper 310.

In an embodiment, an illustrative downloading circuit 320 is configuredto download the image indicating signal to the electronic paper 310 foran image to be written on the first region 315A, the second region 315B,and/or the third region 315C of the electronic paper 310. Thedownloading circuit 320 may be coupled to the electronic paper 310 byway of a coupling structure 330. The downloading circuit 320 is todownload the image indicating signal across the coupling structure 330to the electronic paper 310. In embodiments, the coupling structure 330may comprise a wireless connection, a bus connection, and/or a networkas well as other structures known in this art to transmit an imageindicating signal from the downloading circuit 320 to the electronicpaper 310. In an embodiment, the downloading circuit 320 includes acircuit 340 to prepare an image indicating signal. In an embodiment, thedownloading circuit 320 further includes a coupling circuit 350 tocouple the circuit 340 to the electronic paper 310, by way of thecoupling structure 330 in a transmitting relationship from thedownloading circuit 320 to the coupling structure 330.

In an embodiment, the downloading circuit 320 includes a circuit 360configured to control the writing of an image to specified regions 315A,315B, and 315C of the electronic paper 310. In an implementation, thedownloading circuit 360 may be configured to control the writing of theimage by an entity to the specified regions, by conditionallydisenabling the entity from writing to a specific region. In animplementation, the conditional disenabling depends upon an identity ofthe region, and/or an identity of the entity. In an implementation, thedownloading circuit 360 is configurable to control the substantiallypermanent writing to a specific region 315A, 315B, and/or 315C of theelectronic paper 310.

In an embodiment, the circuit 360 controls disenabling writing an imageto the specified regions, and substantially making permanent an imagewritten to a region, by disenabling the downloading circuit 320 fromtransmitting the image indicating signal for an image to be written onthe regions 315A, 315B, and/or 315C. The circuit 360 may be configuredto disenable the downloading circuit 320 from transmitting the imageindicating signal for these regions, depending upon criteria such as theentity that is endeavoring to write on the region, the occurrence of anevent, and the identity of the region 315A, 315B, 315C to which anentity is endeavoring to write. Stated in an analogous way, the circuit360 may be configured to disenable the downloading circuit 320 fromtransmitting the image indicating signal for an entity endeavoring towrite on a region depending upon criteria such as an identity of theentity and an identity of the region, and an occurrence of an event. Anembodiment of the circuit 360 and the actions it is configured toperform are furthermore presently described with reference to FIGS. 6,7, 8A and 8B, and 9.

In an implementation, the downloading circuit 320 and/or circuit 360 mayinclude a user interface (not shown) to receive inputs from an entity,the inputs indicating an image to be written on the first region 315A,the second region 315B, and/or the third region 315C, and/or anidentification of the identity of the entity. In an implementation, thecircuit 360 may control the writing of the image to the regions 315A,315B, and 315C by algorithmically determining whether the downloadingcircuit 320 is to include the image in an image indicating signal to bedownloaded to the electronic paper 310. If the downloading circuit 320is to include the image in the image indicating signal, the circuit 360may be configured to transmit an indication of the request by the entityto the circuit 340, so that the downloading circuit 320 can download animage indicating signal for the image(s). In an implementation, if thedownloading circuit 320 is not to include the image in the imageindicating signal, the circuit 360 may be configured to not transmit anindication of the request by the entity to the circuit 340, or anothercircuit in the downloading circuit 320. In another implementation, thecircuit 360 may be configured to transmit an indication that thedownloading circuit 320 is to not download an indication of the image tothe circuit 340 or to another circuit in the downloading circuit 320. Inthis implementation, the downloading circuit 320 may include a userinterface (not shown) to receive inputs indicating an image to bewritten on the first region 315A, the second region 315B, and/or thethird region 315C, and/or an identification of the entity requesting theimage be downloaded by the downloading circuit 320 to the electronicpaper 310, depending upon a receipt of a disenabling signal from thecircuit 360.

In another embodiment, the circuit 360, the circuit 340, or anothercircuit of the downloading circuit 320 may be configured to generate andto send to the electronic paper 310, or a circuit within the electronicpaper 310, a signal indicating the pixels of the electronic paper 310 tobe fixed from being further written to, as described above withreference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In an embodiment, the circuit is configuredto fix the electronic paper 310 based on an identity of the region,and/or on an identity of an entity endeavoring to write on the region

Referring to FIG. 4, in another illustrative embodiment, there isportrayed a downloading circuit 420 to download an image indicatingsignal to the electronic paper 310 across the coupling structure 330.The downloading circuit 420 includes the circuit 340, the couplingcircuit 350, and a circuit 460. The circuit 460 is coupled to thecircuit 340 in an image indicating signal receiving relationship, and tothe coupling circuit 350 in an image indicating signal transmittingrelationship.

The circuit 460 is configured to control the writing of an image tospecified regions 315A, 315B, and 315C of the electronic paper 310. Inan implementation, the circuit 460 may be configured to control thewriting of the image by an entity to the specified regions, byconditionally disenabling the entity from writing to a specific region.In an implementation, the conditional disenabling may depend upon anidentity of the region, the occurrence of an event, and/or an identityof the entity. In an implementation, the circuit 460 is configurable tocontrol the substantially permanent writing to a specific region 315A,315B, and/or 315C of the electronic paper 310.

In an embodiment, the circuit 460 controls disenabling writing an imageto a region, and for substantially making permanent an image written toa region, by disenabling the circuit 420 from transmitting the imageindicating signal for an image to be written on the regions 315A, 315B,and/or 315C. The circuit 460 may be configured to disenable the circuit420 from transmitting the image indicating signal for these regions,depending upon criteria such as the entity that is endeavoring to writeon the region, and the identity of the region 315A, 315B, 315C to whichan entity is endeavoring to write, and an occurrence of an event. Statedin an analogous way, the circuit 460 may be configured to disenable thedownloading circuit 320 from transmitting the image indicating signalfor an entity endeavoring to write on a region depending upon criteriasuch as an identity of the entity, an identity of the region, and/or anoccurrence of an event. An embodiment of the circuit 460 and the actionsit is configured to perform are furthermore presently described withreference to FIGS. 6, 7, 8A and 8B, and 9.

The circuit 460 may be configured to receive an image indicating signalfrom the circuit 340. The circuit 460 may be configured to selectivelydownload the received image indicating signal to the coupling circuit350 for transmission to the electronic paper 310, algorithmicallydepending upon the region to which the image is to be written, theentity requesting that the image be written, and/or an occurrence of anevent. In an implementation, the downloading circuit 420 includes a userinterface (not shown) to receive inputs indicating an entity requestingthat an image be written on the first region 315A, the second region315B, and/or the third region 315C, as well as an identity of theregion, and/or an identity of the requesting entity.

In an embodiment, the circuit 460 may be configured to fix theelectronic paper 310 from writing onto the electronic paper 310, or ontoa specific region 315A, 315B, and/or 315C of the electronic paper 310,an image downloaded to the electronic paper 310. The circuit 460, oranother circuit of the downloading circuit 420, may be configured togenerate and to send to the electronic paper 310, or a circuit withinthe electronic paper 310, a signal indicating the pixels of theelectronic paper 310 to be fixed from being further written to, asdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In an embodiment, thecircuit is configured to fix the electronic paper 310 based on anidentity of the region, and/or on an identity of an entity endeavoringto write on the region

Referring now to FIG. 5, in an embodiment, a downloading circuit 520, inoperation of downloading an image indicating signal for an image to beportrayed on the first region 315A, on the second region 315B, and/or onthe third region 315C of the electronic paper 310, is coupled to theelectronic paper 310 by way of the sequential coupling of the couplingstructure 330, a circuit 560, and a coupling structure 530. Thedownloading circuit 520 is configured to download an image indicatingsignal across the coupling structure 330 to the electronic paper 310. Inembodiments, the coupling structure 530 may comprise a wirelessconnection, a bus connection, and/or a network, as well as otherstructures known in this art to transmit an image indicating signal froma circuit to an electronic paper 310. In an embodiment, the downloadingcircuit 520 is disposed on, along, or within the electronic paper 310,and is not coupled to the electronic paper 310 by the coupling structure530. In an embodiment, the downloading circuit 520 includes the couplingcircuit 350 to prepare an image indicating signal, and the couplingcircuit 350 to couple the downloading circuit 340 to the electronicpaper 310 by way of the coupling structure 330. An illustrative circuit560 is coupled to the coupling structure 330 in a signal receivingrelationship, and coupled to the coupling structure 530 in a signaltransmitting relationship, so that an image indicating signaltransmitted by the downloading circuit 520 is received by the circuit560, and selectively transmitted by the circuit 560 to the electronicpaper 310.

The circuit 560 is configured to control the writing of an image tospecified regions 315A, 315B, and 315C of the electronic paper 310. Inan implementation, the circuit 560 may be configured to control thewriting of the image by an entity to the specified regions, byconditionally disenabling the entity from writing to a specific region.In an implementation, the conditional disenabling may depend upon anidentity of the region, an occurrence of an event, and/or an identity ofthe entity. In an implementation, the circuit 560 may be configurable tocontrol the substantially permanent writing to a specific region 315A,315B, and/or 315C of the electronic paper 310. The circuit 560 isconfigured to disenable the downloading circuit 520 from transmittingthe image indicating signal for these regions, depending upon criteriasuch as the entity that is endeavoring to write on the region, theidentity of the region 315A, 315B, 315C to which an entity isendeavoring to write, and an occurrence of an event.

In an embodiment, the circuit 560 is configured to fix the electronicpaper 310 from writing onto the electronic paper 310, or onto a specificregion 315A, 315B, and/or 315C of the electronic paper 310, an imagedownloaded to the electronic paper 310. The circuit 560, or anothercircuit of the downloading circuit 520, may be configured to generateand to send to the electronic paper 310, or a circuit within theelectronic paper 310, a signal indicating the pixels of the electronicpaper 310 to be fixed from being further written to, as described abovewith reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In an embodiment, the circuit (notshown) is configured to fix the electronic paper 310 based on anidentity of the region, and/or on an identity of an entity endeavoringto write on the region.

An embodiment of the circuit 560 and the actions it is configured toperform are furthermore presently described with reference to FIGS. 6,7, 8A and 8B, and 9.

Moreover, in an embodiment, the circuit 560 includes a first circuitconfigured to fix an image within at least a portion of the first region315A by being configurable to write an image within at least the portionof the first region and to substantially disenable further input to theat least portion of the first region 130 and/or further writing to thepixels thereof. In embodiments, the first circuit illustrativelyincludes circuitry configurable to establish a non-volatile signal levelto the pixels of the portion of the first region 315A. Illustrativeimplementations include fusing circuitry, anti-fusing circuitry, lasingcircuitry, an electro-mechanical switch, and/or an electro-mechanicalcutting mechanism to disenable writing to the specified portion of thefirst region 315A. Moreover, in an embodiment the first circuit mayinclude write-once circuitry configured to permit only one image to bewritten to the portion of the first region 315A. In an embodiment, thisincludes circuitry configured to make static the at least portion of thefirst region 315A. In an embodiment, this circuitry may include fusingcircuitry, lasing circuitry, an electro-mechanical switch, anelectro-mechanical lead cutting mechanism, and/or circuitry to establisha non-volatile signal level.

The circuit 560 may be configured to disenable the image from beingwritten on the regions 315A, 315B, and/or 315C by selectivelytransmitting a received image indicating signal. The circuit 560 may beconfigured to selectively transmit the image indicating signal dependingupon criteria such as the entity that is endeavoring to write on theregions, the identity of the region 315A, 315B, 315C to which an entityis endeavoring to download an image, and the occurrence of an event.

FIG. 6 portrays an illustrative circuit 660 configured to control thewriting of an image to specific regions of an electronic paper 610.Exemplary embodiments of such a circuit 660 have been described as thecircuit 160 with reference to FIG. 1, as the circuit 360 with referenceto FIG. 3, as the circuit 460 with reference to FIG. 4, and as thecircuit 560 with reference to FIG. 5. The circuit 660 is configured tocontrol the writing of an image to specific regions of the electronicpaper 610 by conditionally disenabling an entity from writing to aregion of the electronic paper 610.

The portrayed circuit 660 may be implemented as a programmed computer,configured to respond to an application program, and having a port tocouple the computer to the electronic paper 610 (in an embodiment) andto an image indicating signal downloading circuit 620 (in anembodiment). Exemplary embodiments of an image indicating signaldownloading circuit have been described as the image indicating signaldownloading circuit 180 with reference to FIG. 1, as the downloadingcircuit 320 with reference to FIG. 3, as the circuit 420 with referenceto FIG. 4, and as the downloading circuit 520 with reference to FIG. 5.It is specifically contemplated that other embodiments of the circuit660 may be implemented in whole or in part by finite state circuitry.

Referring to FIG. 6, the circuit 660 includes a memory 640, and aprocessor unit 615. The memory 640 is to store an application program644, and data 646 for use by the circuit 660, or to be generated by theprocessor unit 615 in executing the application program 644. Theapplication program 644 describes an algorithm to be executed by thecircuit 660 in performing the described functions of the circuit 660.Embodiments of the algorithm are illustratively described below withreference to FIGS. 7, 8A and 8B, and 9. The memory unit 640 in anembodiment includes a volatile RAM memory portion, as well as anon-volatile memory portion for storing the application program 644.Though the application program 644 may be stored in the non-volatilememory portion, the application program 644 may be executed from thevolatile RAM portion after being written into the volatile RAM portion.

The processor unit 615 includes one or more processors, each capable ofgenerally executing program instructions on data and specificallyexecuting the application program 644. In an embodiment, the processorunit 615 and the memory 640, are incorporated in a general purposecomputer system, such as in a server system, a personal computer, a mainframe system, a mid-range system, and a client system. In anotherembodiment, the processor unit 615 and the memory 640 compose a standalone dedicated computer system such as an embedded computer system anda point-of-sale system.

FIGS. 7, 8A-8B, and 9 describe respective embodiments of a method 700,800, and 900 to use electronic paper. The methods 700, 800, and 900 alsodescribe an algorithm embodied in the application program 644. In anembodiment, in support of the method 700, 800, and 900, a flag or otherdevice may be maintained to indicate whether a specific entity haswritten to a specific region of the electronic paper, so that knowledgeof whether an entity has written to a specified region is obtained byreading the flag. Moreover, in an embodiment the identity of a specifiedentity, and/or a region may be determined and maintained by way of aninput from a user interface. Furthermore, in an embodiment, the identityof a specified entity and/or region may be downloaded to the circuit 660(or other circuit of the downloading circuit 620). In an embodiment inwhich an image indicating signal is downloaded to the circuit 660, theimage indicating signal may include a field to indicate the identity ofthe entity endeavoring to write to the electronic paper, and the circuit660 may be configured to read the field.

Referring now to FIG. 7, an embodiment of method 700 to conditionallydisenable an entity from writing to a specific region of an electronicpaper is portrayed. In the method 700, the disenabling depends upon anidentity of the region and/or an identity of the entity. The methodincludes in block 710, disenabling writing to a first region of anelectronic paper after a first entity has written an image on theregion. An embodiment of the method includes an action of determiningwhether the first entity has already written to the first region, basedon whether a circuit has downloaded an image to be written to the firstregion from the first entity by way of the circuit 560. In anembodiment, the action includes providing an identity of the firstregion and the first entity to an image indicating signal downloadingcircuit or a coupling circuit, to disenable the downloading of the imageindicating signal for the image to the electronic paper. In anotherembodiment, the action includes receiving the image indicating signalfrom the downloading circuit, or the coupling circuit, and nottransmitting the signal to the electronic paper if the image is for thefirst region and written by the first entity.

In block 720, the method includes writing on a second region of thepaper if the writing entity is a specific second entity. As describedwith reference to block 710, in embodiments, the circuit 660 is todetermine whether an entity is endeavoring to write to a specifiedregion of the electronic paper. If the entity endeavoring to write tothe second region is not the second entity, in one embodiment the imageindicating signal is disenabled from being downloaded to the electronicpaper. In another embodiment, the image indicating signal is downloadedto the circuit 660, but the circuit 660 does not download the signal tothe electronic paper.

In an embodiment, the method 700 includes in block 730, writing to athird region of the paper if the writing entity is a specific thirdentity. As described with reference to block 710, in embodiments thecircuit is to determine whether an entity is endeavoring to write on aspecified region of the electronic paper. If the entity endeavoring towrite on the third region is not the third entity, in one embodiment theimage indicating signal is disenabled from being downloaded to theelectronic paper. In another embodiment, the image indicating signal isdownloaded to the circuit, but the circuit does not download the signalto the electronic paper.

As described with reference to FIG. 1, in embodiments in which theelectronic paper is associated with a product, such as being attached tothe product or attached to a package of the product, the second entitymay be a vendor of the product, the third entity may be a purchaser ofthe product, and/or the first entity may be a provider of the product toa vendor of the product, such as a manufacturer of the product or adistributor or publisher of the product.

Moreover, in an embodiment, the disenabling writing action describedwith reference to block 710 includes disenabling writing to the firstregion if the first entity has already written a specific number ofimages to the first region, such as a unitary number of images, or ifthe image written by the first entity to the first region is identifiedas a last image to be written by the first entity to the first region.Thus, if an image written by the first entity to the first region is notidentified as the last image to be written on the first region, thefirst entity is not necessarily disabled from writing to the firstregion. In an embodiment, therefore, the writing to a first region ofthe electronic paper is substantially permanent, and the circuit 660 isconfigurable to substantially permanently write to a first region of theelectronic paper, because entities are disenabled from writing to thefirst region. Moreover, in an embodiment the disenabling writing actiondescribed with reference to block 710 is executed only after anoccurrence of event, such as only after a specific entity, such as afirst entity, a second entity, and/or a third entity, indicates theevent. In an embodiment, an event may be a specific quantity of timesthat the first region has been written to.

Referring now to FIGS. 8A and 8B, an embodiment of method 800 toconditionally disenable an entity from writing to a specific region ofan electronic paper is portrayed. The method 800 includes in block 810determining whether an image is to be written on a first region (or apart thereof) of an electronic paper, and if so, whether criteria todetermine whether the image is to be written to the first region (or apart thereof) are satisfied. Such criteria may include in an embodiment,the occurrence or non-occurrence of an event. Illustrative sources of anevent may be an input from a user interface, a datum indicating anevent, or an algorithmic determination of an event. In embodiments, theevent may include an image having already been written (or downloaded)to the first region a specified number of times such as one time, and/orwritten to the first region since a specified date; and/or whether aspecified entity has written (or downloaded) an image to the firstregion a specified number of times, and/or written to the first regionsince a specified date. For these illustrative events, theirnon-occurrence indicates the satisfaction of the criteria to write tothe first region or a part thereof). If the image is to be written tothe first region (or a part thereof) of the electronic paper and thecriteria have been satisfied, the YES branch is taken from block 810 toblock 820. In block 820 the method includes enabling the image to bewritten to the first region (or a part thereof). If the image is to bewritten to the first region (or a part thereof) and the criteria havenot been satisfied, the NO branch is taken from block 810 to block 830.In block 830, the method includes disenabling the image from beingwritten to the first region (or a part thereof). In an embodimenttherefore, the action of block 830 includes substantially permanentlywriting to a first region (or a part thereof) of the electronic paper,and the circuit 660 is configurable to substantially permanently writeto a first region (or a part thereof) of an electronic paper, bydisenabling writing to the first region (or a part thereof). Inperforming the actions of blocks 810, 820, and 830, circuitry isconfigurable to fix an image within at last a part of the first regionby being configurable to write an image within at least a part of thefirst region, and to substantially disenable further input to the atleast a part of the first region.

In block 840 the method 800 includes determining whether an image is tobe written on a second region of the electronic paper is from an entityauthorized to write on the second region. If an image is to be writtenon a second region and is from an entity authorized to write on thesecond region, then the YES branch is taken from block 840 and themethod includes in block 850 enabling the image to be written to thesecond region. If an image is to be written on the second region and isnot from an entity authorized to write on the second region, then the NObranch is taken from block 840 and the method includes in block 860disenabling the image from being written to the second region. Themethod 800 therefore includes not enabling writing to the second regionexcept by an authorized entity. In an embodiment, the method 800moreover includes in block 870 determining whether an image is to bewritten on a third region of the electronic paper is from an entityauthorized to write on the third region. If an image is to be written ona third region and is from an entity authorized to write on the thirdregion, then the YES branch is taken from block 870 and the methodincludes in block 880 enabling the image to be written to the secondregion. If an image is to be written on the third region and is not froman entity authorized to write on the third region, then the NO branch istaken from block 870 and the method includes in block 890 disenablingthe image from being written to the second region. The method 800therefore includes not enabling writing to the third region except by anauthorized entity.

As described with reference to FIG. 1, in embodiments in which theelectronic paper is associated with a product, such as being attached tothe product or attached to a package of the product, the entityauthorized to write on the second region may be a vendor of the product,the entity authorized to write on the third region may be a purchaser ofthe product, and/or the entity authorized to write to the first regionmay be a provider of the product to a vendor of the product, such as amanufacturer of the product or a distributor or publisher of theproduct. In embodiments that depend upon a region of the electronicpaper and an identity of an entity endeavoring to write to the region,the circuit 160 may be configured to read from the received imageindicating signal an identity of the region to be written to, and anidentity of the entity endeavoring to write to the region, and totransmit an indication of the image to the electronic paper 120 forentities enabled to write to a region.

Referring to FIG. 9, an embodiment of a method 900 includes in block 910determining whether an image is to be written to a first region of anelectronic paper, and in block 920 determining whether a specific eventhas occurred. As described with respect to FIGS. 7 and 8A-8B, such anevent may include a specific entity endeavoring to write on the region,an image already having been written to the region, and the entityhaving already written an image to the region a specified number oftimes, such as one time. If an image is to be written to a region and aspecific event has occurred, the YES branch is taken from block 930, andin block 940 an action includes disenabling writing the image to thefirst region.

In an embodiment, the method 900 includes determining if the image is tobe written to a specific other region and is from a specific entity. Ifthe image is to be written to the other region and is not from thespecific entity, the method 900 includes disenabling writing the imageto the other region.

Following are a series of flowcharts depicting implementations ofprocesses. For ease of understanding, the flowcharts are organized suchthat the initial flowcharts present implementations via an overall “bigpicture” viewpoint and thereafter the following flowcharts presentalternate implementations and/or expansions of the “big picture”flowcharts as either sub-steps or additional steps building on one ormore earlier-presented flowcharts. Those having skill in the art willappreciate that the style of presentation utilized herein (e.g.,beginning with a presentation of a flowchart(s) presenting an overallview and thereafter providing additions to and/or further details insubsequent flowcharts) generally allows for a rapid and easyunderstanding of the various process implementations.

Referring to FIG. 10, shown is a high-level logic flowchart of aprocess. Method step 1000 depicts the start of the process. Method step1002 illustrates writing data to at least one region of the electronicpaper. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or various combinations orpermutations thereof within the ambit of those skilled in the art)writing a content to one or more pixels of electronic paper 120 (see,e.g., FIG. 2). Method step 1004 illustrates making the datasubstantially permanent. For example, circuit 160 and/or circuit 220 (orvarious combinations or permutations thereof within the ambit of thoseskilled in the art) activating a mechanism such that a pattern loaded toelectronic paper 120 is substantially unmodifiable (see, e.g., FIG. 2).Method step 1006 shows the end of the process.

Referring to FIG. 11, depicted is a high-level logic flowchartillustrating alternate implementations of the process of FIG. 10. Shownis that in some implementations, method step 1000 may include methodstep 1100 which depicts activating at least a portion of the electronicpaper. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or various combinations orpermutations thereof within the ambit of those skilled in the art)energizing one or more pixels of electronic paper 120 such that adesired pattern, such as forming text and/or an image, is formed on thepaper (see, e.g., FIG. 2). Depicted is that in some implementations,method step 1100 may include method step 1102 which depicts activatingone or more pixels having an ink configured to rotate in response to afield. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or various combinations orpermutations thereof within the ambit of those skilled in the art)energizing one or more pixels of electronic paper 120 utilizingelectrophoretic and/or electrically and/or magnetically responsive ink(see, e.g., FIG. 2). Illustrated is that in some implementations, methodstep 1100 may include method step 1104 which depicts activating at leastone electrically responsive pixel. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220(or various combinations or permutations thereof within the ambit ofthose skilled in the art) energizing one or more pixels of electronicpaper 120 utilizing electricity (see, e.g., FIG. 2). The remainingmethod steps function as shown and or described herein.

Referring to FIG. 12, illustrated is a high-level logic flowchartillustrating alternate implementations of the process of FIG. 10. Shownis that in some implementations, method step 1004 may include methodstep 1200 which depicts at least one of fusing, anti-fusing, lasing,switching, or cutting at least one input driving a display mechanism ofthe electronic paper. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or variouscombinations or permutations thereof within the ambit of those skilledin the art) activating a fuse, anti-fuse, laser, switch, or cuttingmechanism respectively associated with circuitry driving one or morepixels of electronic paper 120 (see FIG. 2). Depicted is that in someimplementations, method step 1004 may include method step 1202 whichdepicts activating non-volatile signal circuitry. For example, circuit160 and/or 220 (or various combinations or permutations thereof withinthe ambit of those skilled in the art) energizing one or more pixels ofelectronic paper 120 (see FIG. 2). Illustrated is that in someimplementations, method step 1202 may include method step 1204 whichdepicts activating assisted non-volatile signal circuitry. Depicted isthat in some implementations, method step 1204 may include method steps1206-08. Method step 1206 illustrates charging a retention-assistcircuitry. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or various combinationsor permutations thereof within the ambit of those skilled in the art)charging retention-assist circuitry (e.g., capacitive and/orflash-memory like circuitry) respectively associated with one or morepixels of electronic paper 120 (see FIG. 2). Method step 1208 showsengaging in at least one of fusing, anti-fusing, lasing, switching, orcutting at least one input of the retention-assist circuitry. Forexample, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or various combinations or permutationsthereof within the ambit of those skilled in the art) activating a fuse,anti-fuse, laser, switch, or cutting mechanism respectively associatedwith circuitry driving retention-assist circuitry respectivelyassociated with one or more pixels of electronic paper 120 (see FIG. 2).The remaining method steps function as shown and or described herein.

Referring to the schematic block diagram of FIG. 13, an embodiment showsan exemplary read/write e-paper accessibility scheme for a recipient oruser 10 of an item, product or service related to e-paper material 21.As disclosed herein, the e-paper material 21 may be associated with suchitem, product or service for various tracking, informational,certification and verification purposes. In some instances the e-papermaterial 21 also serves as a label attached to the associated item orproduct, and may also serve as a useful document related to theassociated service.

The embodiment of FIG. 13 provides limited accessibility shown as anaccess button 12 that enables only authorized access for therecipient/user 10 (and in some instances for an authorized third party11) through interface 14 via read decryption module 18 to an e-paperportion 16 having informational data such as encrypted descriptiveinformation for the associated item, product or service. Limitedaccessibility is also provided through interface 14 via write encryptionmodule 19 and also via read decryption module 20 to an e-paper portion17 having informational data such as encrypted usage information andlimitations that are applicable to the associated item, product orservice.

Access records 15 may be configured to be operably connected withinterface 14 in order to monitor and save pertinent informationregarding any use of the interface 14 for obtaining access to e-papermaterial 21.

The embodiment of FIG. 13 also includes verification accessibility shownas a prove-it button 13 that enables authorized access through interface14 to determine whether any alteration has been made to the descriptiveinformation on portion 16, and also to determine whether any alterationhas been made to the usage information and limitations on portion 17.

Referring to the schematic block diagram of FIG. 14, another embodimentis depicted that includes status indicators for communicatingverification output information regarding the e-paper material 21. Inthis embodiment it will be understood that different levels ofaccessibility are provided with respect to different types of data onthe e-paper material 21. With respect to non-restricted descriptiveinformation on portion 22, a read access interface 23 is available to aprimary recipient (or primary user) 24 of an item, product or serviceassociated with the e-paper material 21. The read access interface 23 isalso available to additional authorized users 25, and in some instancesto non-users 26.

Similarly with respect to non-restricted usage information andlimitations on portion 27, a read access interface 28 is available to aprimary recipient (or primary user) 30 of an item, product or serviceassociated with the e-paper material 21. The read access interface 28 isalso available to additional authorized users 31, and in some instancesto non-users 32. It will be understood that a primary recipient or userdesignated as 24 may be interested only (or especially) in reading thenon-restricted descriptive information in portion 22, and a differentprimary recipient or user designated as 30 may be interested only (orespecially) in reading the non-restricted usage information andlimitations in portion 27. However, in this embodiment the statusindicators are not configured to provide any verification feedbackregarding the data written in the non-restricted portions 22, 27.

In contrast, the embodiment of FIG. 14 provides accessibility safeguardsand verification feedback with respect to data written in the restrictedportions 33, 36 of the e-paper material 21. More particularly, theprimary recipient or user 24 has accessibility through read/verificationaccess interface 37 to the restricted descriptive information in portion36, and in addition may receive verification feedback from a firststatus indicator 38. Similarly, the primary recipient or user 30 hasaccessibility through read/verification access interface 34 to therestricted usage information and limitations in portion 33, and inaddition may receive verification feedback from a second statusindicator 38.

Detailed implementation details are shown in the embodiment depicted inthe schematic block diagram of FIG. 15, wherein the e-paper material 21is shown as part of an exemplary system implementation. In thisembodiment involving usage information and limitations entered onportion 16 of e-paper material 21 (see FIG. 13), a reader/scanner unit56 is operably coupled through a processor verification unit 53 to thefirst status indicator 38 in order to provide a verification output 60from the first status indicator 38 to a primary recipient, user orauthorized third party 61.

As shown in FIG. 15, a provider 40 of an item or product, as well as aservice provider 41, and an authorized third party 42 all may be enabledvia write access interface 43 to make data entries of plaintext visibleinformation data 44 on portion 16 of e-paper material 21. The same threeentities (or persons) may also be enabled via write access interface 45to use an encoder/encryption module 46 to make entries of protectedvisible information data 47 and protected hidden information data 48 onportion 16 of e-paper material 21. Such entries are enabled by theencoder/encryption module 46 in accordance with an appropriate securitymethodology.

Access records 49 are operably connected with the two write accessinterfaces 43, 45 in order to save pertinent access records such asdate/time of writing data 50, originator of data entry 51, and dataentered 52. Other access record data fields may be included in additionto those disclosed herein, and in some instances some of the exemplarystatus output data fields may not be deemed desirable and therefore canbe omitted. Such access records 49 are made available as shown by arrow54 to processor verification unit 53. The processor verification unit 53also receives inputs shown by arrow 55 from the read/scanner unit 56 fordifferent types of verification information including but not limited toverification confirmation for restricted data 57, and for labelauthentication indicia 58, and for coupling link readout 59.

The processor verification unit 53 can then process the various inputsin accordance with the predetermined security methodology in order togenerate selected status outputs to the first status indicator 38.Exemplary types of status output fields may include answers regardingwhether any restricted data has been altered or deleted 62, detectionresult of whether the e-paper material constitutes the original label(or a pseudo label) 63, whether a label coupling link to an attacheditem or product has been broken or altered 64, is the item or productsource verified 65, is the service provider verified 66, is the dataoriginator verified 67, and has the authorized third party been verified68. Other status output fields may be included in addition to thosedisclosed herein, and in some instances some of the exemplary statusoutput data fields may not be deemed desirable and therefore can beomitted.

Selected output versions 60 from the first status indicator 38 are madeavailable to approved entities 61 such as a primary recipient or user ofthe item, product or service, as well as to any authorized thirdparties.

Other detailed implementation details are shown in the embodimentdepicted in the schematic block diagram of FIG. 16, wherein the e-papermaterial 21 is shown as part of another exemplary system implementation.In this embodiment involving usage information and limitations enteredon portion 17 of e-paper material 21 (see FIG. 13), a reader/scannerunit 82 is operably coupled through a processor verification unit 81 tothe second status indicator 35 in order to provide a verification output95 to a primary recipient, user or authorized third party 70.

As shown in FIG. 16, an authorized entity such as a primary recipient,primary user or authorized third party 70 all may be enabled viarestricted write access interface 71 to make data entries on restricteddata access portion 73 of the e-paper material 21. Such data entrieswill be enabled by encoder/encryption module 72 in accordance with anappropriate security methodology. The same three categories of entities70 (or persons) may be enabled via restricted read access interface 75to read a list of authorized users on restricted portion 74 of e-papermaterial 21, and also may be enabled via restricted read accessinterface 77 to read informational data entries on restricted portion 76of e-paper material 21. Examples of informational data entries onrestricted portion 76 include usage data and limitations, amounts,authorizations, expiration, storage constraints, etc. Additionalauthorized users 78 may also be enabled via restricted read accessinterface 77 to read such informational data entries on restrictedportion 76.

Access records 83 are operably connected with restricted write accessinterface 71 as well as with the two restricted read access interfaces75, 77 in order to save pertinent access records such as date/time ofrestricted read access 84, date/time record of restricted write access85, and date/time record of product/service usage 86. Other accessrecord data fields may be included in addition to those disclosedherein, and in some instances some of the exemplary status output datafields may not be deemed desirable and therefore can be omitted. Suchaccess records 49 are made available as shown by an arrow to processorverification unit 81. The processor verification unit 81 also receivesinputs shown by arrow from the read/scanner unit 82 for different typesof verification information including but not limited to verificationconfirmation for the restricted data in restricted portions 74, 76.

Although write access to portion 79 containing plaintext visibleinformational data may in some instances be restricted to authorizedparties using restricted write access interface 71, the exemplaryembodiment of FIG. 16 shows that portion 79 may be generally availablethrough non-restricted read access interface 80.

The processor verification unit 81 can then process the various inputsin accordance with the predetermined security methodology in order togenerate selected status outputs to the second status indicator 35.Exemplary types of status output fields may include answers regardingwhether a third party is verified 87; whether a primary recipient orprimary user is verified 88; has an restricted data been alter ordeleted, and if so by whom 89; has the authorized user list beenchanged, and if so by whom 90; have any usage limitations been changed,and if so by whom 91; listing identity and contact information for aprimary recipient or user 92; and listing identity and contactinformation for a back-up person 93. Other status output fields may beincluded in addition to those disclosed herein, and in some instancessome of the exemplary status output data fields may not be deemeddesirable and therefore can be omitted.

Selected output versions 95 from the second status indicator 35 are madeavailable to approved entities 70 such as a primary recipient or user ofthe item, product or service, as well as to any authorized thirdparties.

A top view diagram of FIG. 17 schematically shows an exemplaryimplementation of data and authentication indicia incorporated oncombined partially overlapping data/label portions of an e-paperdocument 240. In this embodiment, encoded or encrypted descriptive data241 is surrounded (and in some instances overlies) backgroundauthentication indicia 242. Alternative or supplemental authenticationindicia 243 may be provided separate and apart from the descriptive data241.

Another top view diagram of FIG. 18 schematically shows a differentexemplary implementation of data and authentication indicia incorporatedon combined overlapping data/label portions of an e-paper document 245.In this embodiment the encoded or encrypted descriptive data designatedas 241 in FIG. 17 has been intermixed with the authentication indiciadesignated as 243 in FIG. 17 to form different customized compositeauthentication patterns 246, 247, 248.

A further top view diagram of FIG. 19 schematically shows anotherexemplary implementation of authentication indicia incorporated on ane-paper document 252 attached to an associated item 250 (or product,container, or package). The e-paper document 252 includes a data portion253 and a label portion 254. The label portion 254 includes severalimplementation examples of validating link components that are encodedor encrypted in accordance with a predetermined security methodology.The correlated link components on both the label portion 254 and item250 are shown in the following exemplary formats: separated alphanumericcomponents 255, 256; separated color (cyan, magenta, yellow)representations 257, 258; contiguous cross-boundary colorrepresentations 259; and contiguous cross-boundary patternrepresentations 260.

Arrow 261 represents generally any coupling link to the label portion254. Arrow 262 represents generally any coupling link to the dataportion 253. Arrow 265 represents generally a non-altered coupling linkto label portion 254, which creates a “positive” pixel display as an“ok” alert output on the label portion 254 when no alteration isdetected. A defective (e.g., altered, broken, detached, damaged,missing) coupling link represented generally by separated arrow heads266, 267 causes a “warning” alert output shown as a “negative” pixeldisplay on the label portion 254. Although the illustrated couplinglinks are illustrated on a top surface 251 of item 250, other surfacesof both the item and the e-paper document may be used to establish acoupling link, as better shown in FIG. 20. Pixel displays may also beused for other types of verification status outputs.

A side view diagram of FIG. 20 is a schematic illustration of acomposite unit 270 showing different types of verification couplinglinks between an e-paper document 271 and the attached or associateditem, product, container or package 250. Such coupling links could beimplemented on adjacent surfaces 272, opposite surfaces 273, facingsurfaces 274, or other surface combinations.

FIG. 21 is a schematic block diagram for an exemplary e-paperverification embodiment wherein a processor unit 275 receives input froma reader (e.g., scanner, sensor) 276 that has a capability to detectencrypted or encoded bar code indicia 277. The processor unit uses anappropriate security methodology in order to provide a status output toan alert device 278.

An exemplary embodiment of an alert device 280 is depicted in theschematic diagram of FIG. 22 wherein a warning indicator 281 can providean “ok” alert output (e.g., text, alphanumeric, symbol, audio, visual,audiovisual, color) when an e-paper system determines that noverification problem has been detected, or alternatively the samewarning indicator 281 can provide a “warning” alert output (e.g., text,alphanumeric, symbol, audio, visual, audiovisual, color) when anyverification involving multiple problem types has been detected. In thisembodiment, the warning indicator 281 provides a status indicationregarding multiple types of verification problems such as a labelverification problem 282, a data verification problem 283, and an itemor product coupling verification problem 284. Of course, other types orcombinations of e-paper verification problems could be implemented in ane-paper verification system, and the specific examples disclosed hereinare for purposes of illustration only.

Another exemplary embodiment shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 23depicts an alert device 285 with separate status indicators respectivelyprovided for different types of e-paper verification problems. Theillustrated examples in FIG. 23 include a label problem status indicator286, a data problem status indicator 287, and an item (e.g., product)coupling problem indicator 288. As previously mentioned with respect toFIG. 22, various output techniques can be incorporated as part of “ok”and “warning” output alerts, and various other combinations and types ofverification problems could be pre-selected to be monitored anddetected.

The schematic diagram of FIG. 24 illustrates various exemplary schemes290 for integrating authentication indicia involving different types ofe-paper verification problems, such as label indicia abbreviated as “L”291, data indicia abbreviated as “D”, and item or product couplingindicia abbreviated as “C” 293. In some embodiments each type ofauthentication indicia could be displayed and/or scanned separately.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that variousconsiderations such as security methodology and ease of detection andalert device features may dictate a preferred integration format;accordingly the exemplary schemes depicted herein are not intended to beexhaustive. By way of illustration only, a possible format could combine(e.g., intermix, integrate) the label/data authentication indicia 294while the coupling authentication indicia 295 could be a separatedisplay. Another possible format could display label authenticationindicia 296 separately while combining data/coupling authenticationindicia 297. A further possible format could display data authenticationindicia 298 separately while combining label/coupling authenticationindicia 299. An additional possible format could combine together thelabel/data/coupling authentication indicia 300. Of course in someinstances an individual type of e-paper verification problem couldnevertheless be detected, processed and identified as a result ofscanning either a separated format or an integrated format.

Referring to FIG. 25A, an exemplary embodiment may include labelauthentication indicia 400 for providing an input to detection/processorunit 401 in order to generate status information to a respective alertdevice 402. Similarly data authentication indicia 403 will provide aninput to detection/processor unit 404 in order to generate statusinformation to a respective alert device 405. Similarly couplingauthentication indicia 406 will provide an input to detection/processorunit 407 in order to generate status information to a respective alertdevice 408.

Referring to FIG. 25B, another exemplary embodiment may includecomposite authentication indicia 410 for providing an input todetection/processor unit 411 in order generate appropriate outputinformation to alert device 412. The alert device 412 includes a firststatus readout 414 for label verification, a second status readout 415for data verification, and a third status readout 416 for couplingverification. The alert device 412 of this embodiment also includes awarning indicator 418 that provides an overall status alert output, suchthat a verification problem with any type of e-paper verification willgenerate a “warning” output at indicator 418. Alternatively if noverification problem of any type is detected, an “ok” output will begenerated at indicator 418.

Referring to FIG. 25C, a further exemplary embodiment may includecombined label/data authentication indicia 430 as well as separatecoupling authentication indicia 431 which together provide input todetection/processor unite 432. A user selection feature such as selectorbutton 433 enables a user to choose readout options 434 for reviewingany and all available permissible outputs relating to e-paperverification status information.

The schematic block diagram of FIG. 26 depicts an exemplary embodimentfor an e-paper device that includes an e-paper label 436 with itsassociated (e.g., attached) item, product, container or package 435. Inthis embodiment, various components are incorporated with the e-paperdevice including a detection device 437, a processor unit 438, and astatus readout 440. The processor unit 438 uses an appropriate securitymethodology to process scanned e-paper data received from detectiondevice 437 and generate an output 439 to the status readout 440.

The schematic block diagram of FIG. 27 depicts another exemplaryembodiment for an e-paper device that includes an e-paper label 442 withits associated (e.g., attached) item, product, container or package 441.In this embodiment, a first status readout component 450 is incorporatedwith the e-paper device. A detection device 443, processor unit 444, andsecond status readout 445 are in a location separated from the e-paperdevice. The processor unit 444 uses an appropriate security methodologyto process scanned e-paper data that was obtained by detection device443 via wireless signal 446 (or other communication channel). Theprocessor unit 444 generates a first output 447 via a wirelesscommunication link 448 (or other communication channel) to the statusreadout 440, and also a second output directly to second status readout445. The two outputs could be substantially the same or significantlydifferent, based on the needs of an authorized party having access toeach status readout 450, 445.

The schematic block diagram of FIG. 28 depicts an additional exemplaryembodiment for an e-paper device that includes an e-paper label 501 withits associated (e.g., attached) item, product, container or package 500.In this embodiment, a first status readout component 512 and a detectiondevice 503 are incorporated with the e-paper device. A second statusreadout 508 is incorporated on the item, product container or package500. A processor unit 502 and third status readout 505 are in a locationseparated from the e-paper device. The processor unit 502 uses anappropriate security methodology to process scanned e-paper data that isreceived via wireless communication link 504. The processor unit 502generates a first output 510 via a wireless communication link 511 (orother communication channel) to the first status readout 512, and also asecond output 506 via a wireless communication link 507 (or othercommunication channel) to second status readout 508. The processor unit502 generates a third output directly to status readout 505. The threeoutputs could be substantially the same or significantly different,based on the needs of authorized parties having access to each statusreadout 512, 508, 505.

The schematic flow chart process 515 of FIG. 29 illustrates an exemplarye-paper document associated with a manufactured item that passes throughdifferent stages of a supply chain. At each stage, authorized entitiesand/or persons may “write” (i.e., enter) data to the e-paper documentand/or “read” (i.e., detect) data from the e-paper document. In thatregard different versions of e-paper documents associated with the sameitem may exist, some versions with identical data entries and otherversions with different data entries. Verification status checks may bemade on a periodic or programmed basis as well as randomly anywherealong the supply chain path. Such verification status checks may occurwhile the e-paper document serves as a label that is physically attachedto its associated item, and may also occur while e-paper document isseparated from its associated item.

An initial e-paper document version 517 that may bear identityinformation related to an associated group of manufactured items 516 isdepicted as being separated from its associated group of manufactureditems 516. A later updated e-paper version 519 bearing new entries maybe connected or correlated with groups of one or more tested/certifieditems 518. A further updated e-paper version 523 may be physicallyattached as a label to an individual or group of warehoused items 522.

One of the further updated e-paper versions 523 may bypass theintermediate shipping destinations en route to retailer files 532maintained by a final store destination. A duplicate updated version 523may become re-attached as a label to one or more retailer items. A finalupdated version 529 may accompany a sold item 528 to an ultimaterecipient or purchaser, wherein the final updated version 529 is shownto be attached as a label directly to the sold item 528, or its packageor container.

Other e-paper versions such as 525 may be attached or otherwise matchedwith associated shipper items 524 which proceed by various means oftransportation (see arrow 521) to become inventory retailer items 526.The inventory retailer items 526 are shown as having an attached updatede-paper label version 527. This e-paper version 527 bearing detailedshipping entries may in some instances be removed from a sold item priorto delivery to the ultimate recipient or purchaser.

The recitation of the various e-paper document and label versions asdisclosed in FIG. 29 is for purposes of illustration. Many other paths,supply chain destinations, e-paper document associations, and e-paperversions may be contemplated by those skilled in the art in order toobtain the advantages and benefits disclosed herein.

The schematic flow chart process 535 of FIG. 30 illustrates a furtherexemplary e-paper document associated with a manufactured/assembleddevice that passes through different stages of a supply chain. At eachstage, authorized entities and/or persons may “write” (i.e., enter) datato the e-paper document and/or “read” (i.e., detect) data from thee-paper document. In that regard different versions of e-paper documentsassociated with the same item may exist, some versions with identicaldata entries and other versions with different data entries.Verification status checks may be made on a periodic or programmed basisas well as randomly anywhere along the supply chain path. Suchverification status checks may occur while the e-paper document servesas a label that is physically attached to its associated item, and mayalso occur while e-paper document is separated from its associated item.

Initial e-paper document versions 537, 539, 541 may bear informationaldata related to their respective associated items shown as component536, chemical 538, and circuit 540. In this exemplary embodiment thee-paper document versions 537, 539, 541 are depicted as beingtemporarily attached to their respective associated items during themanufacturing process. These items 536, 538, 540 may be manufactured byindependent suppliers or by another internal company division forsubsequent incorporation into a manufactured & assembled device 542.Updated e-paper versions 537 a, 539 a, 541 a bearing shipping, testingor other pertinent informational data may be removed from the items andstored for future reference in manufacturer files 544.

A later composite e-paper document version 543 separated from itsassociated manufactured & assembled device 542 may incorporate someinformational data from previous versions 537, 539, 541. Such compositeversion possibly having additional updated entries and designated 543 amay be kept in government agency files 546. Such composite versionpossibly having other updated entries and designated 543 b may be keptin buyer files 548.

A final e-paper document version 549 that may contain previously enteredinformational data from versions 537, 539, 541, 543 as well as bearingfurther updated entries is shown to be physically attached as a label toa sold & installed device 550.

The recitation of the various e-paper document and label versions asdisclosed in FIG. 29 is for purposes of illustration. Many other paths,supply chain destinations, e-paper document associations, and e-paperversions may be contemplated by those skilled in the art in order toobtain the advantages and benefits disclosed herein.

An exemplary process embodiment 555 as shown in FIG. 31 provides forcreating informational data from an authorized entity, whichinformational data regarding an item or product is intended to benon-alterable (block 556). The informational data is written inencrypted or encoded format on electronic paper material (block 557).Authentication indicia may be incorporated as part of the informationaldata, wherein the authentication indicia identifies the electronic papermaterial and/or the informational data as having originated from aprovider of the particular item or product, or from an authorized thirdparty (block 558). A security methodology is provided to enableverification confirmation with respect to the electronic paper materialand/or the informational data (block 559).

The flow chart of FIG. 32 illustrates an exemplary computer programproduct embodiment 565 that provides program instructions configured toperform a process that associates information in a computer system(block 566). The process includes creating informational data regardingan item or product (block 567), and writing the informational data inencrypted or encoded format on electronic paper material attachable toor associated with the item or product. The process may further includeincorporating authentication indicia as part of the informational data,wherein the authentication indicia identifies the electronic papermaterial and/or the informational data as having originated from aprovider of the particular item or product, or from another authorizedentity (block 569). Another feature may include scanning authenticationindicia incorporated on the electronic paper material in accordance witha security methodology to enable verification confirmation with respectto the electronic paper material and/or the informational data (block570). The exemplary computer program product also providescomputer-readable signal-bearing media bearing the program instructions(block 571).

Various additional aspects are included in the exemplary process 575shown in the flow chart of FIG. 33, which provides data security forinformation on an electronic paper material attachable to or associatedwith a particular item or product (block 576). In addition to thepreviously described process blocks 557, 559, additional features mayinclude generating a status output (block 578) based on a verificationconfirmation) with respect to the electronic paper material and/or theinformational data (see block 559). The verification confirmation ofblock 559 may include providing one or more of the following types ofverification schemes to determine whether the encrypted or encoded dataindicia or other symbolic representation has been altered: code, cipher,key, checksum, hash, algorithm, and digital signature (block 577). Thoseskilled in the art will understand that other verification schemes canbe implemented in the methods and systems disclosed herein.

Other aspects of the status output may include generating a statusoutput on the electronic paper material (block 579), generating a statusoutput on a particular item or product (block 580), and generating astatus output on a container or a package for the particular item orproduct (block 581). Additional features may include generating a statusoutput based on the verification confirmation for the particular item orproduct associated with one or more of the following categories:equipment, apparatus, device, packaging, container, printed material,services, vehicle, machine, merchandise, clothing, food, chemical,medicine, raw material, article of manufacture, component, and tool(block 582). Other categories of items and products are intended to beincluded, and the listing is not intended to be exhaustive but ratherfor purposes of illustration only.

Referring to another process embodiment 585 shown in the flow chart ofFIG. 34, an exemplary process includes the previously described featuresof blocks 576, 557, 558 as well as aspects involving scanning andprocessing authentication indicia on the electronic paper material. Suchscanning and processing may be in accordance with a security methodologyto enable verification confirmation with respect to the electronic papermaterial and/or the informational data (block 586), and may involveauthentication indicia in one or more of the following formats:alphanumeric symbol, geometric design, monochrome scheme, color scheme,background, repeated pattern, random pattern, boundary cross-overrepresentation, legend, image, bar code, visible representation, andhidden representation (block 587). Of course, other formats may be usedin order to obtain the benefits of the various processes and systemsdisclosed herein.

Additional process features shown in the flow chart of FIG. 34 mayinclude incorporating a coupling link between the electronic papermaterial and an original attached item or product or container orpackage (block 588), and monitoring the coupling link to provideverification confirmation regarding such original item or product orcontainer or package (block 589).

The flow chart of FIG. 35 shows another exemplary process 590 thatincludes scanning encrypted or encoded data indicia on an e-paperdocument (block 591), making a validation determination of whether theencrypted or encoded data indicia has been altered (block 592), andproviding a status output based on a result obtained by the validationdetermination (block 593).

An exemplary computer program product embodiment 595 of FIG. 36 providesprogram instructions configured to perform a process that associatesinformation in a computer system (block 596). The process includesscanning one or more encrypted or encoded data indicia on an e-paperdocument associated with an item or product or container or package(block 597), making a validation determination of whether the encryptedor encoded data indicia has been altered (block 598), and providing astatus output based on a result obtained by the validation determination(block 599). The computer program product may further providecomputer-readable signal-bearing media bearing the program instructions(block 600).

The process embodiment 665 of FIG. 37 shows an implementation forproviding verification status for an e-paper document associated with anitem (block 666). The previously described validation determination(block 592) may include one or more following types of verificationtechniques to determine whether the encrypted or encoded data indiciahas been altered: code, cipher, key, checksum, hash, algorithm, anddigital signature (block 667).

The previously described status output (see block 593) may in someinstances be based on scanning one or more types of encrypted or encodeddata indicia on the e-paper document (block 668). As an exemplary list,one or more of the following data indicia types may be scanned: documentauthentication, data authentication, item authentication, productauthentication, packaging authentication, container authentication, iteminformation, product information, service information, usageinstruction, product ingredient, product component, service requirement,certification, testing, endorsement, warranty, legal notification,government approval, destination, delivery, document origination date,item origination date, product origination date, tracking, history,tracking history, modification history, access history, verificationhistory, validation, corporate approval, and ownership (block 669). Ofcourse, other types of data indicia may be included.

Additional aspects may include providing a separate alert responsive tothe validation determination for each type of encrypted or encoded dataindicia (block 670), providing a same alert responsive to the validationdetermination for multiple types of encrypted or encoded data indicia(block 671), and generating the same alert responsive to the validationtermination of an unauthorized alteration of any of the multiple typesof encrypted or encoded data indicia (block 672).

Another exemplary process embodiment 675 as shown in the flow chart ofFIG. 38 provides verification status for an e-paper document associatedwith an item (block 666). Features may include scanning one or moretypes of encrypted or encoded data indicia on the e-paper document(block 676), providing a status output based on a result obtained bymaking a validation determination of whether the encrypted or encodeddata indicia has been altered (block 677), and providing an alertassociated with at least one of the one or more types of encrypted orencoded data indicia (block 678).

Various aspects regarding the alert may include generating a visualalert output incorporated in a pixel display on the e-paper (block 679),providing the alert at a location separated from the e-paper document(block 680), and identifying the type of encrypted or encoded dataindicia associated with the alert (block 681).

Additional aspects regarding the alert may include generating an alertthat includes one or more of the following outputs: text, alphanumeric,symbol, audio, visual, audiovisual, and color (block 682), and may alsoinclude displaying an output that is detectable under one or more of thefollowing conditions: normal ambient light, infrared light, ultravioletlight, filtered light, specific environmental condition, specific timeperiod, placement in electromagnetic field, and customized imageprocessing (block 683). Of course, other types of outputs and othertypes of detection conditions may be included.

Referring to the flow chart of FIG. 39, another exemplary process 685includes the previously described features of blocks 666, 676, 677, 678wherein an alert is provided on the e-paper document (block 686). Suchan alert may have different exemplary implementations includinggenerating automatically on the e-paper document a detectable “warning”status alert output in the event a result of the validationdetermination indicates the encrypted or encoded data indicia has beenaltered without authorization (block 687), and/or further includinggenerating automatically at a separate location a detectable “warning”status alert output in the event a result of the validationdetermination indicates the encrypted or encoded data indicia has beenaltered without authorization (block 688).

Additional exemplary alert implementations include maintaining anongoing detectable alert output for a given period of time (block 689),providing an ongoing detectable “ok” status alert output if a result ofthe validation determination indicates the encrypted or encoded dataindicia has not been altered (block 690), providing an ongoingdetectable “warning” status alert output if a result of the validationdetermination indicates the encrypted or encoded data indicia has beenaltered (block 691), and displaying an unalterable detectable “warning”status alert output (block 692).

The high level flow chart of FIG. 40 shows another exemplary process 695that includes periodically monitoring encrypted or encoded data indiciaon the e-paper document (block 696), detecting an unauthorized accessand/or unauthorized alteration to the encrypted or encoded data indicia(block 697), and generating an automatic status output alert based on aresult obtained by said detecting (block 698).

Referring to the process embodiment 705 of FIG. 41, the previouslydescribed features of blocks 696, 697, 698 are shown with additionalfeatures for providing verification status for an e-paper documentassociated with an item (block 706). Such additional process featuresmay include initiating the periodically monitoring of block 696 underone or more of the following circumstances: upon receipt of the e-paperdocument by a different entity; prior to transferring the e-paperdocument to a different entity; prior to attachment of the e-paperdocument to the associated item; after attachment of the e-paperdocument to the associated item; after encrypted or encoded data indiciahas been added to the e-paper document; after encrypted or encoded dataindicia has been changed or deleted from the e-paper document; and upontransfer of the associated item to a new location (block 707).

Additional process features may include generating and maintaining anongoing detectable alert output for a period of time, wherein the alertoutput includes an “ok” status alert or a “warning” status alert basedon the result obtained by said detecting (block 709). Another processfeature may include optionally selecting desired output informationregarding a basis for the result obtained (block 708) by the detectingfeature (see block 697).

Referring to the block diagram of FIG. 42, an embodiment shows anexemplary system for controlling access to protected usage informationregarding an item, product, or service in accordance with apredetermined security methodology. For purposes of illustration, theexemplary system configuration includes an access interface unit 735, aserver 740, and an e-paper document. The access interface unit 735 mayinclude an input device 736 to facilitate “write” access capability foran authorized party, and an output display 737 to facilitate “read”access capability for an authorized party. As disclosed herein, usageinformation may be incorporated on an e-paper document 745 that isassociated with such item, product or service. In some instances thee-paper document 745 serves as a label attached to the associated itemor product, and may also serve as a useful document related to theassociated service.

The illustrated server implementation 740 includes a processor 741,controller 742, driver 743, database 744, and application program 754 inorder to actively manage the various processes and functions related tothe usage information and limitations of the e-paper document 745 aswell as regarding the associated usage features such as item usage 751,product usage 752 and/or service usage 753. A communication link betweenthe server 740 and e-paper document may include a wired channel 746 orwireless signal 747. Similarly, a communication link between the server740 and the various usage features 751, 752, 753 may include a wiredchannel 748 or wireless signal 749. The access interface unit 735 may beintegral with the server 740, or part of a separate computer terminal orhand-held peripheral or the like having a wired connection 738 orwireless connection 739 with the server 740. It will be understood thatthe server implementation of FIG. 42 is by way of example only, and thecomponents of the server could be incorporated together in manydifferent separated or integral combinations, such as being partly orcompletely incorporated into a self contained portable access terminal.

It will be further understood that some computerized system embodimentsdisclosed herein incorporate a user access unit such as interface module765 that may include one or more of the following: an output device forenabling an authorized party to have “read” access to the informationalusage data incorporated on the electronic paper document; an inputdevice for enabling an authorized party to have “write” access to theinformational usage data incorporated on the electronic paper document;an output device for enabling an authorized party to receive a statusoutput regarding “read” and/or “write” activity regarding theinformational usage data; and an output device for enabling anauthorized party to receive a status output regarding actual “use”activity involving the related item or product or service.

Many aspects of the exemplary process embodiments of FIGS. 47-50 arecapable of being incorporated in a computer program product (e.g., seeFIG. 51). Such aspects may include maintaining an activity databaserecord regarding one or more of the following categories: “read” accessactivity regarding the restricted portion; “write” access activityregarding the restricted portion; a change regarding a person or entityhaving a “read” access privilege; a change regarding a person or entityhaving a “write” access privilege; “use” activity regarding the relateditem or product or service; and a change regarding a person or entityhaving a “use” access privilege.

Other exemplary aspects that may be incorporated in a computer programproduct include generating a status output to an approved person orentity regarding prior activity and/or current status with respect toone or more of the following: “read” access regarding the restrictedportion of the electronic paper document; “write” access regarding therestricted portion of the electronic paper document; “use” accessregarding the related item or product or service.

Additional exemplary process features that may be incorporated in acomputer program product include managing the “read” access privilege,“write” access privilege, and “use” access privilege based on one ormore of the following types of security methodology: password,confidential user ID, personal identification number (PIN), uniqueaccess identity, coding scheme, cipher, key, algorithm, and encryption.

Another more detailed exemplary system embodiment is shown in theschematic functional block diagram of FIG. 43. The overall systemincludes e-paper material/label 755, an associated item, product orservice 760, an interface module 765, database records 770 includingsecurity methodology 775, processor unit 780, and status outputindicator 782.

The exemplary e-paper material 755 may include a restricted portion 757and a non-restricted portion 756 accessible via non-restricted readinterface 759 to a person who may be a non-user such as Eric 758.Depending on the circumstances, varied usage access 761 in accordancewith the security methodology 775 is provided for specified users suchas Mildred 762 and James 784. In this implementation Mildred is aprimary user and James is an alternate user (see FIG. 44), with Mildredhaving direct hands-on usage shown by arrow 763, and James havingoptional remote usage shown by phantom arrow 764.

Primary user Mildred 762 is shown to have authorized access throughrestricted write interface 766 and controller/driver module 767 torestricted portion 757 of e-paper material 755. Primary user Mildred 762is also shown to have a local or remote wireless link 769 throughrestricted read interface 768 to restricted portion 757 of e-papermaterial 755. Such authorized “read” and “write” access can beimplemented in accordance with security methodology 775 at one or morelocations along a communication channel, as shown by arrow 775 a torestricted write interface 766, arrow 775 b to controller/driver module767, arrow 775 c to restricted read interface 768, arrow 775 d tointerface module 765, and arrow 773 to restricted portion 757 of e-papermaterial 755.

The embodiments of FIG. 43 include schematic bi-directional arrows 773and 781 so indicate additional capability for functional andcommunication interaction between the restricted portion 757 of e-papermaterial 755 and the database records 770 as managed by processor unit780. Similarly, schematic bi-directional arrow 774 identifies a databaseI/O with interface module 765 to show capability for a primary user suchas Mildred 762 having direct access to database records 770.

Other exemplary types of informational and historical data incorporatedin database records 770 may include an authorization access table 771.The authorization access table 771 provides updatable accessauthorization(s) regarding e-paper material 755 per bidirectional arrow773. The authorization access table 771 may also include limitations foractual usage of the item, product or service 760 a shown by arrow 772.

Further exemplary database records may include restricted write accesslog 778, restricted read access log 779, and item/product/service usagelog 776 (see access/usage records 83 in FIG. 16).

Of course, additional types of database records are contemplated inorder to implement different types of security methodologies, and theillustrated database records shown in the drawings are by way of exampleonly. More detailed examples of data fields that may be incorporated insome embodiments are shown in the tables of FIGS. 44-45.

Various system embodiments as disclosed herein may include anauthorization record having a listing that identifies a person or entityapproved for restricted “write” access regarding the usage informationon electronic paper material. Such authorization record may also have alisting that identifies a person or entity approved for restricted“read” access regarding the usage information on electronic papermaterial. Another feature of an authorization record may be a listingthat identifies at least one supervisor with change authority to add ordelete a person approved for access to the usage information on theelectronic paper material.

Other system embodiments may include an authorization record with alisting that identifies a person or entity approved for restricted useof the item or product or service. Such an authorization record mayfurther include a listing that identifies at least one supervisor withchange authority to add or delete the person or entity approved forrestricted use of the item or product or service.

Additional system embodiments may include an activity record that isoperably coupled to a status output indicator. Such an activity recordmay include a database record of one or more of the followingcategories: restricted “write” access authorization; restricted “read”access authorization; restricted “write” access log; restricted “read”access log; restricted item usage log; restricted product usage log;restricted service usage log; authorization change log; and securitymethodology.

With respect to embodiments having a status output indicator, anauthorization record may include a listing that identifies a person orentity authorized to receive information provided by the status outputindicator. Other exemplary records may include a listing that identifiesat least one supervisor with change authority to add or delete a personor entity approved for receiving information provided by the statusoutput indicator.

In some instances a given security methodology may be implemented withrespect to restricted usage information for a related item, product orservice. For example, electronic paper material may have restrictedusage information protected by an access privilege based on one or moreof the following types of security methodology: password, confidentialuser ID, personal identification number (PIN), unique access identity,coding scheme, cipher, key, algorithm, and encryption.

Some embodiments provide a predetermined security methodology thatenables restricted use of the item or product or service. Suchpredetermined security methodology may be based on one or more of thefollowing types of security methodology: password, confidential user ID,personal identification number (PIN), unique access identity, codingscheme, cipher, key, algorithm, and encryption.

The system and process features disclosed herein do not require anyspecific type of security methodology. It will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art that different types of security methodology can becustomized for implementation into various embodiments in order to helpachieve adequate “read/write” protection regarding restricted usage dataas well as appropriate “use” limitations for related items, products andservices.

Referring again to the embodiments of FIG. 43, various informationaloutputs may be generated by processor unit 780 to the status outputindicator. In some instances the processor unit 780 may act as aprocessor verification unit to provide specific updated answers topertinent inquiries (see status indicator 35 in FIG. 16). Exemplaryinformational data fields that may be used as a basis for output datagenerated to the status output indicator 782 are set forth in theauthorization access table 771.

As shown in the implementation of FIG. 43, status output indicator 782is accessible to primary user Mildred 762 as shown by arrow 782 a, andis also accessible to a security person Anthony 783 as shown by arrow782 b. In addition, status output indicator 782 is also accessible toalternate user James 784 via wireless connection 782 c.

FIG. 44 illustrates an exemplary database table 785 applicable to abusiness entity. The exemplary database table 785 has various selectedcategories of authorization access with respect to protected usageinformation. Such categories include a person 786 in a particularposition 787 and whether the person has been approved for restrictedread access 788 and restricted write access 789. Further categoriesinclude usage limits for a designated item/product/service 790, types ofstatus output 791 regarding usage data, and individual access identitycodes 799. Other data fields may be included in addition to thosedisclosed herein, and in some instances some of the exemplary datafields may not be deemed desirable and therefore can be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 44, a manager Robert 792 with access identity codeR-ALPHA 795 is approved for both restricted read and write access 788,789, and is also approved for unlimited usage access to a designateditem, product or service 790. Robert has authorization to receive thestatus output 791 in a periodic summary format.

A primary user Mildred 762 has the same access approvals 788, 789, 790as manager Robert 792, and has authorization to receive the statusoutput 791 in a real-time readout format. An alternate user James 784 isapproved for restricted read access 788, and is also approved forunlimited usage access to the designated item, product or service 790.However James 784 as an alternate user is not approved for restrictedwrite access 789, and needs advance permission for usage access to thedesignated item, product or service 790. James 784 has authorization toreceive the status output 791 in a real-time email format. Because bothMildred and James are users, they are assigned companion access identitycodes 796 shown as M-BETA, J-BETA, respectively.

Anthony 783 and Deborah 793 are both security people approved forrestricted read access 788, and are assigned companion access identitycodes 797 shown as A-GAMMA, D-GAMMA, respectively. Both Anthony 783 andDeborah 793 are not approved for restricted write access 789, are bothapproved for oversight only with respect to usage access to thedesignated item, product or service 790. Anthony 783 has authorizationto receive the status output 791 in a daily summary format, and Deborah793 has authorization to receive the status output 791 as a webpagestatus readout.

Ann 794 is a member of the legal department and upon request may obtainapproval for restricted read access 788 and to receive the status output791. Ann 794 has no approval for restricted write access 789 and noapproval for user access to the designated item, product or service 790.

FIG. 45 illustrates an exemplary database table 945 applicable to afamily entity. The exemplary database table 945 has various selectedcategories of authorization access with respect to protected usageinformation. Such categories include a person 946 in a particularposition 947 with respect to a medical patient Roth 955 and whether theperson has been approved for restricted read access 948 and restrictedwrite access 949. Further categories include usage limits for adesignated item/product/service 950, types of status output 951regarding usage data, and individual access identity codes 959. Otherdata fields may be included in addition to those disclosed herein, andin some instances some of the exemplary data fields may not be deemeddesirable and therefore can be omitted.

A physician Wu 952 with access identity code W-EPSILON has the sameaccess approvals 948, 949, 950 as pharmacist Jeppson 953 with accessidentity code J-ZETA, due to the medical condition of patient Roth 955.Moreover, physician Wu 952 has authorization to receive the statusoutput in a periodic summary format. In this exemplary illustration,pharmacist Jeppson 953 has no authorization to receive any statusoutput.

Caregiver Farr 954 with access identity code F-THETA is authorized toreceive the status output 951 in a real-time audio signal format.However caregiver Farr 954, who may in many instances may not haveformal nursing training, is approved for only emergency access regardingusage of the designated item, product or service 950, and must obtainadvance permission to obtain approval for restricted read access 948. Inaddition caregiver Farr 954 has no approval for restricted write access949.

Patient Roth 955 and spouse Kim 956 are family members having the sameapproval for restricted read access 948, and have companion accessidentity codes 958 shown as R-IOTA, K-IOTA, respectively. Because ofpotential problems resulting from patient Roth's illness, there is noauthorization to receive a status output 951, and no authorization forany restricted write access approval 949 has been granted to patientRoth 955. Also patient Roth 955 needs advance permission for directunsupervised usage of the designated item, product or service 950. Incontrast, spouse Kim 956 has approval for restricted write access 949,unlimited access to usage of the item, product or service to facilitatetimely proper usage by patient Roth 955, and has authorization toreceive the status output in a daily format summary 951.

Child Ebert 957 in this implementation is a younger resident familymember with access identity code E-KAPPA. As shown in FIG. 45, childEbert 957 does not have read or write access approvals 948, 949 and isnot given any approval for usage of the designated item, product orservice 950. However child Ebert 957 may upon request obtain the statusoutput 951.

The embodiment of FIG. 45 includes additional database fields 1020 thatmay be included to maintain an historical and updated record of changesthat have occurred in the authorization access table 945. For example,such records may include date(s) of any changes 1010, category changed1012, indication of actual changes 1016, and identity of person making achange 1016. Another record may provide a list of table changesupervisors 1018 delegated to make such changes.

It will be understood that other data fields may be included in theexemplary tables of FIGS. 44-45 in addition to those disclosed herein,and in some instances some of the exemplary data fields may not bedeemed desirable and therefore can be omitted.

Referring to the schematic representation of FIG. 46, an exemplaryembodiment of a dispenser package unit 960 includes a transceiver 970,power source 975, controller/driver module 977, restricted e-paperportion 967, and dosage compartments 961, 962, 963, 964, 965. Inputsignals 971 and output signals 972 are carried via communication linksthrough transceiver 970 and controller/driver module 977 for functionalinteraction involving usage access to dosage compartments 961-965 (seebi-directional arrow 978 and address signal line 980 forcontroller/driver module 977), and also involving read/write access torestricted e-paper portion 967 (see bi-directional arrows 973, 974 forcontroller/driver module 977). Such read/write access may be controlled,protected and/or monitored by a particular security methodology inaccordance with the disclosure herein.

The exemplary dispenser package unit 960 may include a support body 966for the package components, and also a panel 979 for various signallines. Exemplary signal lines include locking circuits 991, 992, 993,994, 95 operably connected with power source 975. An address signal line980 may be periodically pulsed in a programmed mode or manual mode bycontroller/driver module 977 to activate selected junction gates 981,982, 983, 984, 985 (e.g., by opening or closing a transistor circuitgate). Such activation will cut off electrical current that ordinarilypasses from power source (see arrow 976) through locking circuits 991,992, 993, 994, 995 to their respective electro-mechanical orelectro-magnetic locks 991 a, 992 a, 993 a, 994 a, 995 a. As shown inFIG. 46, junction gate 981 has been activated to cause lock 991 a to bein unlocked position. As a result cover 961 a has been manually openedto partially expose dosage compartment 961 and enable a single tablet996 to be removed for usage by a patient. It will be understood thatsuch usage access may be controlled, protected and/or and monitored bythe applicable security methodology chosen for a particular embodiment.

It will be understood that other signal processing techniques for datatransfer, addressing, locking/unlocking techniques, and the like may beimplemented in a product packaging device to achieve the featuresdisclosed herein, and the embodiments shown and described are forpurposes of illustration only.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 46, a morning dosage may be a singletablet 996 kept securely in compartment 961; a mid-day dosage may be twotablets 996 kept securely in compartment 962; a late afternoon dosagemay be a single tablet 996 kept securely in compartment 963; a bedtimedosage may be three capsules 998 kept securely in compartment 964; and aoptional extra daily dosage of one tablet 996 may be kept securely incompartment 965. Visual indicia 997 and 999 may be used to verifycorrect quantities and accurate tablet or capsule types for eachcompartment pursuant to prescription instructions or other medicalprocedures.

As disclosed herein and understood by those skilled in the art,electronic paper material such as shown in FIG. 46 may be attachable toa related item or product, or may be attachable to a package orcontainer for the item or product. The e-paper material may include acommunication channel operably coupled to a controller/driver module tofacilitate “write” access and/or “read” access to a restricted portionof the e-paper material. The e-paper communication channel may also beoperably coupled to a transceiver to receive and/or transmit “write”access signals and “read” access signals with respect to informationalusage data on the restricted portion of the e-paper material.

The e-paper material may also be operably coupled to a power source tofacilitate the “write” access and/or “read” access with respect to therestricted portion of the e-paper material. In some embodiments anexternal communication link (e.g., a wireless link) is provided to theitem or product or to the package or container for the item or product,to facilitate an approved party to have restricted “use” access to theitem or product in accordance with a given security methodology. Such anexternal communication link (e.g., wireless communication link) to thecommunication channel of the e-paper material may also help tofacilitate the “write” access and/or the “read” access to the restrictedportion of said electronic paper material.

It will also be understood by those skilled in the art that the variouscommunication links can be separated into different communicationchannels or media as well as combined into an integrated broadband ornarrowband link such as wired, wireless, cable, etc. It is furtherunderstood that integrated or separate modules can be provided for userinterface functions, for writing/reading/scanning functions, forprocessing functions, for transceiver functions, input function, and/orfor output functions. The particular exemplary systems and methodsdisclosed herein are provided only for illustration.

The read/write access interfaces disclosed herein for multiple users arefor purposes of illustration, and persons skilled in the art willunderstand that various types of communication links can be utilized toachieve the necessary functional interactions between authorized users(also in some instances authorized third parties) and e-paper material,as well as between authorized users (also in some instances authorizedthird parties) and the status indicators (e.g., alert devices). It willbe further understood that exemplary user interfaces are capable ofoperable connection to a communication link in order for an authorizedparty to send and receive permissible informational data relating to theverification status of e-paper material, e-paper documents, e-paperlabels, and the like.

The high level flow chart of FIG. 47 shows an exemplary process 1020that includes providing an electronic paper document associated with anitem or product or service, wherein the electronic paper documentincludes a restricted portion having usage information related to theitem or product or service (block 1022). The exemplary process 1020 mayfurther include enabling one or more authorized persons to have anaccess privilege to the restricted portion in accordance with apredetermined security methodology (block 1024), and making a record ofaccess activity regarding the restricted portion (block 1026).

Referring to the exemplary process embodiment 1030 of FIG. 48, otherprocess features may limit access to a portion of electronic papermaterial (block 1032). In addition to the previously described aspectsregarding a restricted portion of an e-paper document (see blocks 1022,1024, 1026), the process may include making a record of “read” accessactivity (block 1027) regarding the restricted portion as well as makinga record of “write” access activity (block 1028) regarding therestricted portion.

An additional process feature may include maintaining a database recordof one or more of the following: restricted portion authorizationlisting; restricted portion “write” authorization listing; restrictedportion “read” authorization listing; restricted “use” authorizationlisting for item or product or service; restricted portion access log;restricted portion “write” access log; restricted portion “read” accesslog; item usage log; product usage log; service usage log; and securitymethodology (block 1034).

Other exemplary aspects shown in FIG. 48 include enabling one or moreauthorized persons to have only “read” access to the restricted portion(block 1036), and enabling one or more authorized persons to have both“read” and “write” access to the restricted portion (block 1037). Someimplementations may provide restricted logon privileges to one or moreauthorized persons for “read” and/or “write” access to the restrictedportion (block 1038). Another feature may provide restricted usageprivileges to one or more authorized persons to enable using the item orproduct or service associated with the electronic paper document (block1039).

Referring to the exemplary process embodiment 1040 of FIG. 49, furtherprocess features maybe related to limiting access to a portion ofelectronic paper material (block 1032). In addition to the previouslydescribed aspects regarding a restricted portion of an e-paper document(see blocks 1022, 1024), the process may enable one or more authorizedpersons to have a further access privilege for usage of the associateditem or product or service (block 1042). Related features may includeenabling one or more authorized persons to have “read” access to therestricted portion and “use” access to the associated item or product orservice (block 1044), and may include enabling one or more authorizedpersons to have both “read” and “write” access to the restrictedportion, and also to have “use” access to the associated item or productor service (block 1048).

An additional process feature may include making a record of usageactivity regarding the associated item or product or service (block1046). Other types of records may also be provided as disclosed herein,and in some instances it may be deemed appropriate to eliminate certainrecords, depending on the circumstances as well as the needs and desiresof system administrators and/or users.

Further exemplary features shown in FIG. 49 include establishing atleast one supervisor with change authority to add or delete a personwith the access privilege to the restricted portion (block 1052), andmaking a record of change activity adding or deleting the person withthe access privilege to the restricted portion (block 1054).

Other aspects may include establishing at least one supervisor withchange authority to add or delete a person with a further accessprivilege to use the associated item or product or service (block 1056),and making a record of change activity adding or deleting the personwith the further access privilege to use the associated item or productor service (block 1058).

The flow chart of FIG. 50 shows an exemplary process embodiment 1060that includes previously described process features 1022, 1024, 1026 aswell as other aspects that may be included. In some implementations astatus output is generated based on one or more of the following:generating a status output based on one or more of the following:authorization access table, a record of “read” access activity regardingthe restricted portion; a record of “write” access activity regardingthe restricted portion; a record of usage activity regarding theassociated item or product or service; supervisory authority listing, arecord of authorized user listing changes, a record of authorized “read”access listing changes; a record of authorized “write” access listingchanges; and a record of restricted portion data changes (block 1062).

Additional exemplary process features shown in FIG. 50 include enablingthe one or more authorized persons to have an additional accessprivilege to the status output (block 1064), and enabling one or moreauthorized persons to receive the following types of status output: realtime status readout data; real time status summary; email status readoutdata; webpage status readout data; and periodic status readout summary(block 1066).

A further aspect may enable an access privilege based on one or more ofthe following types of security methodology: password, confidential userID, personal identification number (PIN), unique access identity, codingscheme, cipher, key, algorithm, and encryption (block 1068).

An exemplary computer program product embodiment 1070 of FIG. 51provides program instructions configured to perform a process thatassociates information in a computer system (block 1071). The processincludes maintaining an authorization database record that identifies aperson or entity that has a “read” access privilege with respect to arestricted portion of an electronic paper document, wherein therestricted portion includes informational usage data regarding a relateditem or product or service (block 1072). Another process feature mayinclude maintaining another authorization database record thatidentifies a person or entity that has a “write” access privilege withrespect to the restricted portion of the electronic paper document(block 1073). An additional process feature may include maintaining afurther authorization database record that identifies a person or entitythat has a “use” access privilege with respect to the related item orproduct or service (block 1074). Some implementations also provide acomputer-readable signal-bearing media bearing the program instructions(block 1075).

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that at various stagesin the processes and system operations disclosed herein, variousauthorized entities and/or persons may be enabled to “write” (i.e.,enter) data to the e-paper material incorporated as part of a documentor label. It will be further understood that at various stages in theprocesses and system operations disclosed herein, various authorizedentities and/or persons may be enabled to “read” (i.e., detect) datafrom the e-paper material incorporated as part of a document or label.

Moreover, in some implementations it will be understood that an e-paperportion may be connected or combined with other materials of a documentor label in order to achieve various protection and usage benefits asdisclosed herein.

The processes of FIGS. 31-41 and FIGS. 47-51 can be implemented withvarious types of technology, including but not limited to hardware,firmware and/or software systems based on computerized datacommunications and processing as discussed in more detail herein.Programmed implementations can run on multiple computer devices or runon an integrated computer system, depending on the circumstances.

It will also be understood by those skilled in the art that the variouscommunication links can be separated into different communicationchannels or media as well as combined into an integrated broadband ornarrowband link such as wired, wireless, cable, etc. It is furtherunderstood that integrated or separate modules can be provided for userinterface functions, for writing/reading/scanning functions, forprocessing functions, for transceiver functions, and/or for outputfunctions. The particular exemplary systems disclosed herein areprovided only for illustration.

The read/write access interfaces disclosed herein for multiple users arefor purposes of illustration, and persons skilled in the art willunderstand that various types of communication links can be utilized toachieve the necessary functional interactions between authorized users(also in some instances authorized third parties) and e-paper material,as well as between authorized users (also in some instances authorizedthird parties) and the status indicators (e.g., alert devices). It willbe further understood that exemplary user interfaces are capable ofoperable connection to a communication link in order for an authorizedparty to send and receive permissible informational data relating to theverification status of e-paper material, e-paper documents, e-paperlabels, and the like.

The exemplary system and device embodiments shown in FIGS. 1-6, 13-30and 42-46 along with other components, devices, know-how, skill andtechniques that are known in the art have the capability of implementingand practicing the methods and processes shown in FIGS. 7-12, 31-41 and47-51. It is to be understood that the methods and processes can beincorporated in one or more computer program products with a carriermedium having program instructions carried or stored thereon. However itis to be further understood that other systems, apparatus and technologymay be used to implement and practice such methods and processes.

It will be understood from the description and drawings herein thatvarious components, sub-components, modules, and peripherals can beincorporated in a system for protecting information on an electronicpaper device. The e-paper device may include an e-paper document ore-paper label with encoded or encrypted data relating to an associateditem or product or service or container or package. The system mayinclude a sensing device capable of reading the encoded or encrypteddata, and a processor unit operably coupled to the sensing device todetermine verification of any alteration or deletion of the encoded orencrypted data. The system may further include a status indicator thatreceives an input from the processor unit regarding a verificationstatus for the encoded or encrypted data.

In some embodiments the status indicator may be incorporated with thee-paper material. In other instances the status indicator isincorporated with the associated item or product or container orpackage. Some implementations include the status indicator as part of aunit separated from the e-paper material. Also in certain embodimentsthe status indicator is included with the processor unit, and in someimplementations may be included with the sensing device.

As disclosed herein, the sensing device may include a scanner readingthe encoded or encrypted data in one or more of the following formats:alphanumeric symbol, geometric design, monochrome scheme, color scheme,background, repeated patterns, random patterns, boundary cross-overrepresentations, legend, image, bar code, visible representation, andhidden representation.

As further disclosed herein, the sensing device in some embodiments iscapable of reading the encoded or encrypted data under one or more ofthe following conditions: normal ambient light, infrared light,ultraviolet light, filtered light, specific environmental condition,specific time period, placement in electromagnetic field, and customizedimage processing. The sensing device may further include a scanner forscanning authentication indicia on said electronic paper material toidentify said electronic paper material and/or said encoded or encrypteddata as having originated from a provider of the item or product orservice or from another authorized entity.

In some embodiments disclosed here, the e-paper verification system maybe configured (in some instances programmed) to generate an “ok” statusoutput if a verification confirmation indicates that that electronicpaper material and/or the informational data has not been altered. Thereference to “ok” is not limited to this term, but rather includes anytype of output, display, communication, or other indication that averification check has not detected or identified any apparentvalidation or authentication problem.

The e-paper verification system also may be configured (in someinstances programmed) to generate a “warning” status output if theverification confirmation indicates that that electronic paper materialand/or the informational data has been altered. The reference to“warning” is not limited to this term, but rather includes any type ofoutput, display, communication, or other indication that a verificationcheck has detected or identified an apparent validation orauthentication problem.

With respect to embodiments wherein the e-paper material is attached toan associated item or product or container or package, the sensingdevice may include a scanner for determining a status of a coupling linkwith an original attached item or product or container or package, toprovide confirmation that the electronic paper material has not beendetached from its original item or product or container or package. Insome instances the system may be programmed to monitor the coupling linkbetween the electronic paper material and an original attached item orproduct or container or package, to provide verification confirmationregarding such original item or product or container or package

The processor unit of an e-paper verification system as disclosed hereinmay include one or more of the following types of verification schemesto determine whether the encrypted or encoded data indicia has beenaltered: code, cipher, key, checksum, hash, algorithm, and digitalsignature. It is further understood that such encoded or encrypted datamay be written by or on behalf of a person or entity from one or more ofthe following categories: item source, product maker, productmanufacturer, product distributor, product wholesaler, product retailer,product dealer, service provider, service franchisee, service agency,and company subsidiary.

One aspect of the disclosed e-paper device includes encoded or encrypteddata written by or on behalf of an authorized entity regarding one ormore of the following types of informational data: documentauthentication, data authentication, item authentication, productauthentication, packaging authentication, container authentication, iteminformation, product information, services information, receiptacknowledgement, billing term, invoice data, usage instruction, productingredient, product component, service requirement, certification,testing, endorsement, warranty, legal notification, government approval,destination, delivery, document origination date, item origination date,product origination date, tracking, history, tracking history,modification history, access history, verification history, validation,corporate approval, and ownership.

One of the system components disclosed herein is reader device for usewith electronic paper material having label-type information thereon.The reader device may include a sensor that detects authenticationindicia in one or more of the following categories: alphanumeric symbol,geometric design, monochrome scheme, color scheme, background, repeatedpattern, random pattern, boundary cross-over representation, legend,image, bar code, visible representation, and hidden representation. Anaspect of the system provides such authentication indicia to establishthat the electronic paper material and/or the informational data and/oran associated item actually originated from a provider of the item orfrom another authorized entity.

A further aspect of the disclosed features provides encrypted or encodedinformational data written by or on behalf of one or more of thefollowing: a provider or maker or manufacturer or distributor or sellerof the related item.

Another aspect provides one or more of the following types ofauthentication indicia: authentication indicia at least partiallyincluded in the data portion; authentication indicia separated from thedata portion; authentication indicia intermixed with the informationaldata; authentication indicia separated from the information data;authentication indicia detectable on one surface of the electronic papermaterial, and authentication indicia on both surfaces of the electronicpaper material.

Some embodiments include a status indicator for providing an outputbased on a verification confirmation with respect to the authenticationindicia. An exemplary status indicator may include an output based onthe verification confirmation regarding the authenticity of the e-papermaterial.

Other exemplary status indicators may include an output based on theverification confirmation regarding the authenticity of theinformational data. Other status indicator outputs may be based on averification confirmation with respect to the coupling link between ane-paper document or label and its associated item, product, container orpackage.

Some coupling link implementations include a circuit link between theelectronic paper material and its associated item or product orcontainer or package. Some embodiments provide a coupling link thatincludes an encrypted or encoded symbolic representation on theelectronic paper material that correlates with another symbolicrepresentation on the related product or container or package.

Some system and method embodiments disclosed here include scanning oneor more types of encrypted or encoded data indicia on an e-paperdocument associated with an item or product or container or package, andmaking a validation determination of whether the encrypted or encodeddata indicia has been altered. A status output is provided that is basedon a result obtained by the validation determination. The aforementionedvalidation process may be incorporated in a computer program productthat includes signal-bearing media. The signal bearing media may includestorage media, and may also include communication media.

Other aspects of a process embodiment capable of being incorporated in acomputer program product include providing the status output on thee-paper document. A detectable “ok” alert may be provided on the e-paperdocument as well as on a separate unit if a result of the validationdetermination indicates the encrypted or encoded data indicia has notbeen altered. Similarly a detectable “warning” alert may be provided onthe e-paper document as well as on a separate unit if a result of thevalidation determination indicates that any of the encrypted or encodeddata indicia has been altered.

Additional process features capable of being incorporated in a computerprogram product include displaying for a period of time an ongoingdetectable “warning” alert on the electronic paper document, as well ason the item or product or container or package associated with thee-paper document. Another aspect may provide two or more status outputsat different locations, respectively, wherein different verificationinformation be displayed or communicated at each status output. In someinstances, a status alert may identify the type of encrypted or encodeddata indicia which form a basis for the result of the validationdetermination.

A further aspect of an output alert may include generating automaticallyon the e-paper document and/or at a separate location a detectable“warning” status alert output in the event a result of the validationdetermination indicates the encrypted or encoded data indicia has beenaltered without authorization.

The verification status output indicator implementation may includemultiple alert indicators, which individually can be incorporated withan associated item that is included in one or more of the followingcategories: product, equipment, apparatus, device, packaging, container,printed material, service, vehicle, machine, merchandise, clothing,food, chemical, medicine, raw material, article of manufacture,component, and tool. Of course, other categories may also be included.Such a status output indicator may include an alert device incorporatedwith a sensor device and/or with a processor unit.

Some alert indicator embodiments may provide an identity of a type ofencrypted or encoded information determined by said processor unit tohave been altered. Other aspects of an exemplary alert indicator mayinclude a pixel display on the e-paper document, and a further aspectmay include an unalterable display on the e-paper document, as well asin some instances an unalterable display on its associated item,product, container or package.

Various system and method embodiments disclosed herein are used tocontrol the writing on electronic paper (e-paper). An e-paper device mayincorporate authentication indicia as part of informational data writtenon e-paper material. The informational data is protected by a securitymethodology that is accessible to authorized entities. A reader devicemay be used to help make a verification determination of whetherencrypted or encoded data has been altered. In some instances an outputalert operably coupled to the reader device serves as a verificationstatus indicator.

Some apparatus and method embodiments provide a technique forcontrolling “read” and/or “write” access to electronic paper (e-paper).Informational data may be on a restricted portion of e-paper materialthat is protected by a security methodology accessible to authorizedentities. Some embodiments maintain a record of access activityregarding the restricted portion, and a record of access activityregarding use of an item or product or service related to the e-paperinformational data. Some implementations include an authorizationlisting of a person or entity having a particular access privilege or asupervisory privilege to make authorization and data changes.Authorization records may involve an access privilege to receive astatus output regarding prior access activity and/or current status.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the variouscomponents and elements disclosed in the block diagrams herein as wellas the various steps and sub-steps disclosed in the flow charts hereinmay be incorporated together in different claimed combinations in orderto enhance possible benefits and advantages.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments ofthe devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts,and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/orexamples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will beunderstood by those within the art that each function and/or operationwithin such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented,individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software,firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment,several portions of the subject matter described herein may beimplemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), orother integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art willrecognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, inwhole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in standard integratedcircuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or morecomputers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computersystems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors(e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors),as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designingthe circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmwarewould be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light ofthis disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capableof being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, andthat an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described hereinapplies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearingmedia used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signalbearing media include, but are not limited to, the following: recordabletype media such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, CD ROMs, digitaltape, and computer memory; and transmission type media such as digitaland analog communication links using TDM or IP based communication links(e.g., packet links).

While particular aspects of the present subject matter described hereinhave been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the subject matter described hereinand its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are toencompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as arewithin the true spirit and scope of this subject matter describedherein. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention isdefined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those withinthe art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in theappended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generallyintended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should beinterpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” shouldbe interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should beinterpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will befurther understood by those within the art that if a specific number ofan introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will beexplicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitationno such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, thefollowing appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases“at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations.However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply thatthe introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or“an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claimrecitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even whenthe same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “atleast one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or“an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one ormore”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used tointroduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number ofan introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled inthe art will recognize that such recitation should typically beinterpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the barerecitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typicallymeans at least two recitations, or two or more recitations).Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “atleast one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a constructionis intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understandthe convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C”would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone,C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general sucha construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.).

As a further definition of “open” terms in the present specification andclaims, it will be understood that usage of a language construction “Aor B” is generally interpreted as a non-exclusive “open term” meaning: Aalone, B alone, A and B together.

Although various features have been described in considerable detailwith reference to certain preferred embodiments, other embodiments arepossible. Therefore, the spirit or scope of the appended claims shouldnot be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.

1. A method for limiting access to a portion of electronic papermaterial, said method comprising: providing an electronic paper documentassociated with an item or product or service, wherein the electronicpaper document includes a restricted portion having usage informationrelated to the item or product or service; enabling one or moreauthorized persons to have an access privilege to the restricted portionin accordance with a predetermined security methodology; enabling one ormore authorized persons to have an access privilege for usage of theitem or product or service associated with the electronic paperdocument, wherein the item or product or service associated with theelectronic paper document is inaccessible without the access privilegefor usage; and making a record of access activity regarding therestricted portion.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said making therecord of access activity includes: making a record of “read” accessactivity regarding the restricted portion.
 3. The method of claim 1wherein said making the record of access activity includes: making arecord of “write” access activity regarding the restricted portion. 4.The method of claim 1 wherein said enabling one or more authorizedpersons to have an access privilege includes: enabling one or moreauthorized persons to have only “read” access to the restricted portion.5. The method of claim 1 wherein said enabling one or more authorizedpersons to have an access privilege includes: enabling one or moreauthorized persons to have both “read” and “write” access to therestricted portion.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the enabling one ormore authorized persons to have an access privilege for usage of theitem or product or service associated with the electronic paper documentfurther comprises: providing a communication link with a package orcontainer for the item or product or service to facilitate access by oneor more authorized persons to the item or product or service.
 7. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising: making a record of usage activityregarding the associated item or product or service.
 8. The method ofclaim 1 wherein said enabling one or more authorized persons includes:enabling one or more authorized persons to have “read” access to therestricted portion and “use” access to the associated item or product orservice.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein said enabling one or moreauthorized persons to have an access privilege includes: enabling one ormore authorized persons to have both “read” and “write” access to therestricted portion, and also to have “use” access to the associated itemor product or service.
 10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:generating a status output based on one or more of the following:authorization access table, a record of “read” access activity regardingthe restricted portion; a record of “write” access activity regardingthe restricted portion; a record of usage activity regarding theassociated item or product or service; supervisory authority listing, arecord of authorized user listing changes, a record of authorized “read”access listing changes; a record of authorized “write” access listingchanges; and a record of restricted portion data changes.
 11. The methodof claim 10 further comprising: enabling one or more authorized personsto have an additional access privilege to the status output.
 12. Themethod of claim 10 further comprising: enabling one or more authorizedpersons to receive the following types of status output: real timestatus readout data; real time status summary; email status readoutdata; webpage status readout data; and periodic status readout summary.13. The method of claim 1 further comprising: maintaining a databaserecord of one or more of the following: restricted portion authorizationlisting; restricted portion “write” authorization listing; restrictedportion “read” authorization listing; restricted “use” authorizationlisting for item or product or service; restricted portion access log;restricted portion “write” access log; restricted portion “read” accesslog; item usage log; product usage log; service usage log; and securitymethodology.
 14. The method of claim 1 wherein said enabling one or moreauthorized persons to have an access privilege includes: providingrestricted logon privileges to one or more authorized persons for “read”and/or “write” access to the restricted portion.
 15. The method of claim1 wherein said enabling an access privilege to the restricted portionincludes: enabling an access privilege based on one or more of thefollowing types of security methodology: password, confidential user ID,personal identification number (PIN), unique access identity, codingscheme, cipher, key, algorithm, and encryption.
 16. The method of claim1 further comprising: establishing at least one supervisor with changeauthority to add or delete a person with the access privilege to therestricted portion.
 17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:making a record of change activity adding or deleting the person withthe access privilege to the restricted portion.
 18. The method of claim1 further comprising: establishing at least one supervisor with changeauthority to add or delete a person with the access privilege to use theassociated item or product or service.
 19. The method of claim 18further comprising: making a record of change activity adding ordeleting the person with the access privilege to use the associated itemor product or service.
 20. A system for controlling access to electronicpaper material, the system comprising: electronic paper material withusage information that is protected by a predetermined securitymethodology, wherein the usage information relates to an item or productor service; an authorization record that identifies a person or entityauthorized to have access to the usage information on the electronicpaper material; an authorization record that identifies a person orentity authorized for restricted use of the item or product or serviceassociated with the electronic paper document, wherein the item orproduct or service associated with the electronic paper document isinaccessible without the access privilege for usage; and an activityrecord of one or more of the following: “write” access activityregarding the usage information; “read” access activity regarding theusage information; “use” access activity regarding the related item orproduct or service; change activity adding the person or entityauthorized to have access to the usage information; change activitydeleting the person or entity authorized to have access to the usageinformation; change activity adding a designated person or entityapproved for restrictive use of the item or product or service; andchange activity deleting the designated person or entity approved forrestrictive use of the item or product or service.
 21. The system ofclaim 20 wherein said authorization record further includes: a listingthat identifies a person or entity approved for restricted “write”access regarding the usage information on said electronic papermaterial.
 22. The system of claim 20 wherein said authorization recordfurther includes: a listing that identifies a person or entity approvedfor restricted “read” access regarding the usage information on saidelectronic paper material.
 23. The system of claim 20 wherein saidauthorization record further includes: a listing that identifies atleast one supervisor with change authority to add or delete the personapproved for access to the usage information on the electronic papermaterial.
 24. The system of claim 20 wherein said electronic papermaterial further includes: electronic paper with usage informationprotected by an access privilege based on one or more of the followingtypes of security methodology: password, confidential user ID, personalidentification number (PIN), unique access identity, coding scheme,cipher, key, algorithm, and encryption.
 25. The system of claim 20wherein said activity record further includes: a database record of oneor more of the following categories: restricted “write” accessauthorization; restricted “read” access authorization; restricted“write” access log; restricted “read” access log; restricted item usagelog; restricted product usage log; restricted service usage log;authorization change log; and security methodology.
 26. The system ofclaim 20 further comprising: a communication link with a package orcontainer for the item or product or service to facilitate access by aperson or entity to the item or product or service.
 27. The system ofclaim 20 wherein said authorization record further includes: a listingthat identifies at least one supervisor with change authority to add ordelete the person or entity approved for restricted use of the item orproduct or service.
 28. The system of claim 20 further comprising:another security methodology that enables restricted use of the item orproduct or service.
 29. The system of claim 28 wherein the anothersecurity methodology that enables the restricted use includes: arestricted use privilege based on one or more of the following types ofsecurity methodology: password, confidential user ID, personalidentification number (PIN), unique access identity, coding scheme,cipher, key, algorithm, and encryption.
 30. The system of claim 20further comprising: a status output indicator operably coupled to saidactivity record.
 31. The system of claim 30 wherein said authorizationrecord further includes: a listing that identifies a person or entityauthorized to receive information provided by the status outputindicator.
 32. The system of claim 31 further comprising: a listing thatidentifies at least one supervisor with change authority to add ordelete the person or entity approved for receiving information providedby the status output indicator.
 33. An electronic paper devicecomprising: electronic paper material capable of storing informationalusage data regarding a related item or product, wherein said electronicpaper material is associatable with or attachable to the item or productor a package or container for the item or product; a communicationchannel on said electronic paper material that allows an authorizedparty to have “write” access and/or “read” access to a restrictedportion of said electronic paper material from a location separated fromsaid electronic paper material, in accordance with a predeterminedsecurity methodology that limits “write” and/or “read” access to anauthorized party; and an external communication link to the item orproduct or to the package or container for the item or product, tofacilitate an approved party to have restricted “use” access to the itemor product in accordance with a given security methodology, wherein theitem or product is inaccessible without the restricted “use” access. 34.The device of claim 33 further comprising: a controller/driver moduleoperably coupled to said communication channel of said electronic papermaterial to facilitate the “write” access and/or “read” access to therestricted portion of said electronic paper material.
 35. The device ofclaim 33 further comprising: a transceiver operably coupled to saidcommunication channel of said electronic paper material to receiveand/or transmit “write” access signals and “read” access signals withrespect to informational usage data on the restricted portion of saidelectronic paper material.
 36. The device of claim 33 furthercomprising: a power source operably coupled to said electronic papermaterial to facilitate the “write” access and/or “read” access withrespect to the restricted portion of said electronic paper material. 37.The device of claim 33 wherein the external communication link includes:a wireless communication link.
 38. The device of claim 33 wherein thegiven security methodology includes a protected restricted “use”privilege based on one or more of the following types of securitymethodology: password, confidential user ID, personal identificationnumber (PIN), unique access identity, coding scheme, cipher, key,algorithm, and encryption.
 39. The device of claim 33 furthercomprising: an external communication link to said communication channelon said electronic paper material to facilitate the “write” accessand/or the “read” access to the restricted portion of said electronicpaper material.
 40. The device of claim 39 wherein the externalcommunication link includes: a wireless communication link.
 41. Thedevice of claim 33 wherein said electronic paper material furtherincludes: electronic paper with usage material protected by an accessprivilege based on one or more of the following types of securitymethodology: password, confidential user ID, personal identificationnumber (PIN), unique access identity, coding scheme, cipher, key,algorithm, and encryption.
 42. A computerized system for electronicpaper data access and related usages, comprising: an electronic paperdocument that includes informational usage data for a related item orproduct or service, wherein the informational usage data is protected bya predetermined security methodology; a server system having acommunication link with said electronic paper document; a databaseoperationally coupled with said server system, said database includingfirst access authorization records regarding “read” access and/or“write” access to the informational usage data, said database furtherincluding second access authorization records regarding actual use ofthe related item or product or service, wherein the item or product orservice is inaccessible without an access authorization record foractual use; and an interface means capable of operable connection withsaid server system to help facilitate operational benefits of the firstaccess and second access authorization records in accordance with thepredetermined security methodology.
 43. The computerized system of claim42 wherein said interface means includes one or more of the following:an output device for enabling an authorized party to have “read” accessto the informational usage data incorporated on the electronic paperdocument; an input device for enabling an authorized party to have“write” access to the informational usage data incorporated on theelectronic paper document; an output device for enabling an authorizedparty to receive a status output regarding “read” and/or “write”activity regarding the informational usage data; and an output devicefor enabling an authorized party to receive a status output regardingactual “use” activity involving the related item or product or service.44. A computer program product comprising: (a) program instructionsconfigured to perform a process that associates information in acomputer system, the process including maintaining an authorizationdatabase record that identifies a person or entity that has a “read”access privilege with respect to a restricted portion of an electronicpaper document, wherein the restricted portion includes informationalusage data regarding a related item or product or service; maintaininganother authorization database record that identifies a person or entitythat has a “write” access privilege with respect to the restrictedportion of the electronic paper document; and maintaining a furtherauthorization database record that identifies a person or entity thathas a “use” access privilege with respect to the related item or productor service, wherein the related item or product or service isinaccessible without the “use” access privilege; and (b) acomputer-readable storage media bearing the program instructions. 45.The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the process furthercomprises: maintaining an activity database record regarding one or moreof the following categories: “read” access activity regarding therestricted portion; “write” access activity regarding the restrictedportion; a change regarding a person or entity having a “read” accessprivilege; a change regarding a person or entity having a “write” accessprivilege; “use” activity regarding the related item or product orservice; and a change regarding a person or entity having a “use” accessprivilege.
 46. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein theprocess further comprises: generating a status output to an approvedperson or entity regarding prior activity and/or current status withrespect to one or more of the following: “read” access regarding therestricted portion of the electronic paper document; “write” accessregarding the restricted portion of the electronic paper document; “use”access regarding the related item or product or service.
 47. Thecomputer program product of claim 44, wherein the process furthercomprises: managing the aforesaid “read” access privilege, “write”access privilege, and “use” access privilege based on one or more of thefollowing types of security methodology: password, confidential user ID,personal identification number (PIN), unique access identity, codingscheme, cipher, key, algorithm, and encryption.